Children of Aiur
by Kyn
Summary: Not all that is dark is evil. The hybrids may spell the doom of all races... But they may also be the key to salvation. Features protoss heavily. A weird, horror, feel-good fic. On Indefinite Hiatus.
1. Origins of Sasha

Everyone who's read my fanfic MahiMahi should be used to how I do my stories. This is not a marine vs. zerg or marine vs. protoss fic. It does not remind one of the movie "Aliens" or "Predator." It is a starcraft fic. It takes place during and after the events of Starcraft and Starcraft: Broodwar. It contains zerg, protoss, terran, original characters, canon characters, children, and several hybrids. The story should have a slight "horror" twist, but at the same time it manages to maintain the elements of feel-good. Go figure.

Yarg! Fear me!

* * *

**_CHILDREN OF AIUR_**

* * *

**_On the Origins of Sasha: The Cast_**

* * *

Somewhere on Aiur

Nothing but green. Green, green, green, stupid, damn, green! Nothing but plants and zerg, and zerg and plants, and shoot this, kill that, GREEN!

Danial Wyker growled to himself, shoving through yet another patch of overgrown ferns. He idly speculated that the ferns wouldn't have been as nearly impeding if he didn't have to push through them in heavy marine armor. He took a bite of one of his last ration bars, and held his side arm at the ready. His rifle was too long to use properly in the undergrowth, and a zergling could pop out of the ground at any moment. It was times like these when he wondered why he bothered to kept moving. It was times like these that he decided that the only thing he lived for was hope; hope that somehow, some way, he would stumble into human civilization.

Of course, this was exceptionally unlikely. He was on Aiur. Humans had long since abandoned the planet. Protoss had long since abandoned the planet. The only thing that hadn't abandoned the planet was zerg. Aiur was huge. Aiur was also covered in dense jungle that obscured everything outside of a tiny 5 foot by 5 foot box around him. The odds that he was going to run into a human settlement were horrendously low.

Previously, he had been a marine in the service of the UED. He had been placed upon Aiur to help secure the fledging Zerg Overmind. When Kerrigan had attacked and ripped the UED fleets apart, Danial had been left stranded on the planet. He still was not sure how he had survived. Like all UED soldiers, Danial had come directly from Earth, the human home world. He had no experience with the wars and factions of the sector. He had never seen an alien before, nor been forced to survive on a hostile world. Hell, he hadn't ever really known what it was to suffer. Several weeks on Aiur's surface with nothing but salvaged rations had taught him a lesson or two in humility.

Nothing but green. Green in all directions. Green here. Green there. Oh look! A bit of brown. More green. More-

At that point in time, Danial cut through the last layer of fern between himself and a large field. This field, which was around a mile in diameter, was the seat of a fairly extensive human and protossian base. Danial's jaw dropped in surprise as he stared at the clusters of buildings. Most of them seemed to have terran landing gear affixed to them- a trait that alluded to an ability to lift off of the ground. On the other hand, many of them featured structures that were wholly alien. Some buildings even had small pylons built into their sides. The base sported several overlapping star ports. Above these ports floated a single protoss star gate. Even as Danial watched, the star gate shimmered, and a terran drop ship was warped into the vicinity.

There was a slight crash as a massive dragoon stepped between Danial and the base. Its firing pod was open and glowing light blue. _"Drop your weapon. You have fifteen seconds to comply."_

* * *

Scavenging Base  
(cont.)

Imagine, for a second, that you grew up in a poor family with seven kids, and parents who couldn't have supported two. Imagine wanting to go to college to be something respectable, like a doctor, or a lawyer; but that you can't, because you have no money. Instead, you decide to join the army. It pays well, and if you stay on for long enough, you can get great scholarships for school.

Now imagine that your country decides, just after you finish basic training, that you and hundred thousand other unlucky blokes could better serve your country by traveling several years in cyro-hibernation to the other side of the galaxy and blowing the snot out of your long-lost cousins. Did we mention that you were descended from happy members of the earth community who'd never caused a mite of trouble in their lives? Did we also mention that your "cousins" were descended from every rapist, drug-dealer, mass murderer, and serial killer that the earth had to offer?

Now let's pretend that your leaders sit you on a foreign planet so that they can get their greedy fingers on a powerful alien weapon- a giant baby brain. Once all this is done, the leaders can have their whole "alien weapon" project blow up in their faces. As your leaders are all brave and fearless, they evacuate the planet as quickly as possible, and leave you all alone on its hostile, alien ridden surface.

You wander around for several months, thanking god you have rations, and wondering why your dad couldn't have stayed in school, and why he had to go out and become a hair dresser, because if he were just a bit wealthier this whole situation wouldn't have happened. You wander into an alien-human base, and are confronted by a giant mechanical spider with a really big cannon. You drop your weapons, and are then ushered into the alien-human base.

You walk past a bunch of marines who yell various things like "Hey! It's a newbie!" and "Wonder if he's wet himself yet?" before you finally reach your destination. Now you are looking up at a 9 foot tall, heavily armed psionic warrior who could rip your mind apart with but a thought. His shoulders are almost as wide as your battle armor. He stares down at you with no mouth, no nose, no pupils, just two glowing yellow eyes, and you feel his brain raking through your own.

Now you know how poor Danial feels.

"Bet ya he faints! Twenty creds!"

"Nah, I say he vomits!"

"What if he faints _and_ vomits?

"Vhat? Ah, I zink he vill vet himself, first."

"You alvays sink zhat zhey vill vet zemselves!"

"And? Zey alvays do!"

"Nah, they faint!"

"Hyou are all vrong. Dot vone vill obfiously shit himself."  
It is arguable that the only reason Danial did not defecate, urinate, faint, or vomit was due solely to his desire to prove the supportive morons behind him wrong. The chorus of various different accents surged around him, before his protoss examiner at last spoke.

_"You are loyal to the UED?"_ It asked him. The mental speech was disturbing, but he'd just had his brain combed through; he could take it.

"No. The UED left me to die here," he managed, throat dry.

_"How do you feel about Raynor's Raiders?"_

"They haven't yet left me to die here?" he asked tentatively. The marines behind him laughed and hooted. The protoss docked his head to the side, and then nodded. He looked over Danial's head at the other marines in the vicinity. Around ten of them had stopped to watch the proceedings and to bet over what the UED soldier would do.

_"This one shall fit in fine. As you gentlemen are otherwise unengaged, would you perhaps like to find him some accommodations?"_

Around four of the marines came forward. "Sure! The newbie can room with us till he gets his feet. We'll keep him out of trouble."

"Ya, ve veel keep him out of trouble."

The protoss nodded somewhat skeptically. "See that you do," he said rather blandly, before giving a polite bow of his head and heading off to whatever other duties occupied his time. One marine seized Danial's shoulder and propelled him on, the other three laughing and talking about getting him a shower, and how he owed them creds for making them lose their bets. W

He was now officially a member of Raynor's Raiders. When he asked after his weapons, they found and returned them. Some time in the future, he would stop to wonder why it was that those raiders were so famous for their loyalty if random people could pop out of the jungle and join them. Maybe it was the health benefits; the Raiders tended not to just randomly leave people on alien-infested planets.

* * *

Mess Hall, Scavenging Base

"Heya! You're the newbie, aren't you?"

Danial blinked and looked up from his lunch. He started, surprised. Before him stood a woman with blue eyes and blond hair tied up behind her in a ponytail. She had freckles on her cheeks. She was six and a half feet tall. Her shoulders were broader than his. "That's… what they call me," he said slowly. He was currently seated with two of his bunkmates in the command center's mess room. One of said bunkmates perked up, looking up at the woman. His jaw dropped. Another marine slugged him to get him to stop staring, and then turned to speak to her.

"Hyeah, dis von just vondered into camp a few days ago. Vhy? Looking for a good time?"

The blonde woman smirked in bemusement. "Course not, silly. Looking for a marine who isn't dunderheaded." She looked back at Danial.

"Name's Bree."

"Danial," he responded quietly.

"So what the hell were you doing turfside?"

"Uh… surviving?" he asked, as if that were the most logical of all answers. The marines around him laughed.

"Ever been brain-panned?"

Someone felt they had to butt in again. "Vhat kind ohf kvestion is dat?" exclaimed the marine beside him

"A valid one!" Bree declared cheerfully. "So have you?"

"No…" Danial replied slowly.

"Talkative one, aren't you?" she asked gleefully.

"Erm, sorry, it's just that… um…"

"And so articulate! You're hired!"

"I was applying?"

"I and my friend, Valk, make up a scavaging crew. We make runs out into the jungle to recover scrapped protoss stuff. We've been having trouble with stray zerg lately, and need a marine to keep them off our backs. We need a marine who can bunk with two women and not drown himself in his own drool. You're officially the only marine in this joint that fits the description; therefore, you're hired."

"But-"

"Dock 1, meet us tomorrow at three, standard time."

"But-"

"See ya!"

And with that, she bounced off. Danial starred quizzically after her as his fellow marines gave him pats on the back and congratulated him boisterously. Apparently as far as military women went, Bree was somewhat of a catch. Unfortunately, Danial couldn't remember ever starting to fish in the first place. Rather, he had the sensation he'd just been eaten by a whale.

* * *

On board scavenging frigate

"So what's the agenda for today?"

"I hop in my SCV and carry around thousands of pounds of Khydarian crystal. You kill anything bad. Good luck!"

Danial lifted a brow, eyeing his bubbly companion with amusement. She laughed at his expression. Bree Redwren was the mechanic of the small salvage ship. As Danial had discovered, Bree was a fairly bouncy person. She laughed manically whenever using a blowtorch, and was particularly fond of chocolate milk.

"Same as always. Salvaging. There's a protoss carrier that's crashed in the boarders of the safe zone. We're flying in to examine it. We recover what we find- especially whatever's left of the engines- and then we leave. We come back the next day for more. Simple. Got it?" she asked.

Danial nodded. He was fairly new at this salvaging business. "Expecting any Zerg?" he asked.

"Vone must alvays suspect Zerg." The words issued forward from the cockpit of their small salvage vessel. Their pilot was Bree's polar opposite. She normally served as a valkyrie pilot. In fact, their salvage ship was a heavily modified version of a valkyrie frigate. Although the woman gave no name for herself, Bree referred to her affectionately as "Valk" or "Valky." This appeared to be the manner in which everyone else knew her, as well.

In any event, Valk was dark haired and dark-eyed. She was of Russian descent, and spoke with a thick, rolling accent. Again unlike Bree, Valk seemed old beyond her years. Old scars cut across her face, and her eyes seemed possessed of much hidden and horrible knowledge. Somewhere in her past, Valk had lost both her legs. One was severed at the knee, and the other at the hip. She had never had them replaced- not even with prosthetics.

"Zhey are zhe rats of zhe universe- and a pain in the ass."

Danial nodded.

"Well, good luck out there. And if you die, just remember: it wasn't my fault," Bree continued, lifting a hand to shake his. He eyed her for a moment, as if preparing himself to protest. At last he gave up and just sight. He took the offered hand and shook it firmly. Her fingers were calloused and strong. When he pulled back his hand he gave it a shake to make sure it was still working. Bree grinned and cuffed him lightly over the head. "Suit up. We'll be landing soon."

* * *

Scavenging Base

Three zerglings, a long span of time in which he and Bree had exchanged war stories, and a good hot shower later, and Danial was getting ready for bed. Overall, the day had been fairly productive and had required a fairly nominal amount of work. He was assured that the days would not always be like that, but he hardly minded. A few more zerg made the day a bit more interesting. He found it only proper that he should buy pajamas, no matter how much other marines laughed at him for it. By the time he returned to his new room, Bree was asleep. She was sprawled all over one of the top bunks. Valk sitting neatly on a lower bunk. She was reading a book on astrophenomenon.

Danial lifted a brow, and eyed the both of them for a moment. A small smile crossed his face, and he shook his head. There were only two bunks in this room. The other one was vacant, with the lower bed already made up and ready for him. He quietly walked over to it. His gauss rifle was leaning against the side of the bed. He patted it lightly before pulling himself into the bed and trying to get some sleep. It had been a long, long time since he had last truly slept…

* * *

(cont.)

He woke with a start, hitting his head on the top bunk's support beams. The blow didn't faze him in the slightest. He breathed in heavily, and felt cold sweat all over his frame.

"Knew there was another reason I didn't sleep…" he whispered.

"Bad dreams?" Bree's voice carried across the stillness of the room.

"Always…" he murmured, slowly looking in her direction. The room was illuminated softly by a dull blue light on the ceiling.

The mechanic smiled, looking down at him. "Confront them. The less you sleep, the worse they will get, till every moment your eyes are shut is one you spend reliving the past."

"… Yeah, I know." He looked down for a moment, and then reached over for his rifle. He popped the ammunition clip out and set it aside, and then held the rifle in the way a kid would a stuffed animal. He wormed around under his covers, and then laid his head back down upon his pillow. After a long time he fell back to sleep. His dreams were a little better on the second round.

Bree watched him a moment, and then pillowed her arms back under her head. She fell asleep only a few minutes after him.

* * *

(cont.)

When Danial woke up, he was still cradling his rifle. He blinked and then gave a yawn and stepped out of bed.

"Morning sleepy head!" came Bree's call from the doorway. She'd just returned after going to the nearby bathroom to dress- or so he assumed. "Was just about to wake you! Mess hall serves free breakfast to early risers!"

"Sounds good," he answered. He popped the ammunition clip back into his rifle and leaned it back against his bed. He then stood and stretched, listening to his vertebrae crack. Bree proceeded to brush her hair and straighten herself up, and then dropped to the ground to do pushups. Valk was already ready, and reading a book on some ancient world war.

"Show off," the pilot muttered. Bree just laughed. She stood up, and then moved over and carefully picked Valk up under the arms. That was one interesting factor of Valk's existence. Because she had no legs, she relied on Bree to carry her everywhere. It was her one apparent weakness.

That morning, they had mystery stew. Bree said it was best not to dwell on the "Mystery" part. It tasted fairly good, but both Bree and Danial were fairly immune to taste by that point in their lives. They just packed it away. Out of the three, Valk was the only one with a truly developed sense of taste. While eating, she managed to name every animal and plant that went into the making of the stew, as well as several protein and flavor additives.

Bree eyed Valk once she had finished listing ingredients. "… … It tastes like chicken to me."

"Is she always like this while eating?" Danial inquired with a full mouth.

"Yes. Valk likes fancy restraints and good food. In one of her ships, she has a whole stash of real Vodka. That stuff goes for thousands of creds a bottle now that most of the Terran planets have been ripped apart by Zerg. Valky wont sell a bottle."

The pilot blinked and glared at Bree reproachfully. The blonde merely giggled.

"What? I trust him. He seems good enough," she said, grinning and elbowing Danial. Danial nearly lost his mouthful of food. He took a moment to keep himself from choking, and then swallowed the meat in his mouth. "So Vodka, eh? Never really drank myself… But I watched other marines get drunk on the cheap stuff."

"Yup," chimed Bree. "True to her roots."

"Hope your pass time isn't playing Russian Roulette," he said, in an attempt to be humorous.

Valk lifted a brow. "Actually, I play chess," she said. "But I suppose Russian Roulette does have some similarities to my second hobby…"

He blinked, looking at her curiously.

"I race. Preferably in asteroid fields, and against protoss corsairs and other valkyries."

He took another bite of his food before continuing. "So what do you race protoss for?"

"To win," she answered simply.

"Well that's… very logical."

The pilot laughed. "I race protoss for zhe fun of it, marine. I like to show zhem zhat they are not superior in all zhings.

"Fun is always a good thing," he observed, just trying to make conversation. "I've seen some marines hold shooting contests. They're stupid in my opinion."

"Why is zhat?"

"Waste of good ammo… And they have a tendency to shoot apples off each others heads, or hold the contests while drunk. Had to jump in before the blew their heads off sometimes." He smiled at the memories. "Heh… What's funny is that I would trust those men with my very life." The smile faded as happy memories faded into darker ones.

Bree laughed, and then blinked at his somber face.

He stared quietly into his now-empty bowl for a moment, and then shook his head. "They were all good men," he said quietly.

Bree tilted her head to the side, and then patted him gently on the shoulder. "I'm sorry," she offered.

The marine blinked and coughed, trying to cover his own embarrassment. "I shouldn't bring up something like that," he said, forcing a smile onto his face.

"It's okay," she offered. "We all got stories. Most people don't end up with Raynor unless they've seen too much nonsensical death already."

"Raynor?" Danial asked, his sadness replaced with curiosity. He knew very little of the leader of the Raiders. The UED hadn't considered him a major player.

"Once Marshal, now Commander James Raynor. Leads our little band of Terran. We work alongside the protoss."

"So… He's the one leading this joint operation?"

"The human half of it, yeah. Raynor's Raider's we're called."

"Catchy."

"Yup. Piracy, Raiding, Salvaging protoss ships, and trying to save the universe. All wrapped up in a neat and tidy package."

"Sounds interesting. … And the protoss? Are they led by him as well?"

"Not so much. Although he has some credibility with them, and they'll often take orders if he gives them, they're loyal to their own leaders. It used to be that Fenix led them. After Kerrigan killed him, that's no longer the case. Raynor and Fenix were good friends. We're worried that our little "alliance" will fall apart with him gone."

"This Raynor sounds interesting."

"That's why we like 'im," the mechanic piped cheerfully.

His bowl was empty, and so he went to dispose of it. When he returned, the two women were discussing their next salvage mission.

* * *

Yarg!


	2. The Girl

In case anyone... Anyone at all was wondering... I do not own Starcraft. I also fully recognize that no one viewing this story will wonder if I own Starcraft.

Yay! we finally get on to the slight horror aspect!

* * *

**_On the Origins of Sasha: The Girl_**

* * *

Salvage Mission, Somewhere on Aiur

They landed near an old protossian star gate. It had been built on Aiur after the evacuation to Shakuras. From how battered and disabled the gate was, Danial had the suspicion that building it had not been the wisest of idea.s

The star gate was far too large to be scavenged by a single valkyrie frigate to haul, but the trio did not need to salvage the entire structure. They were primarily interested in harvesting the star gate's various Khydarian crystals- such as those that composed the gate's wrap drive, and those of the engine that once kept it suspended in midair. Only after the area was safer for larger scavenging vessels would any ships be set out to retrieve the bulk of the wreck.

Bree and Valk had been salvaging for a long time without Danial's aid. In particular, Bree's SCV was somewhat modified from galactic standards. Most notably, it had a gauss rifle anchored onto one arm. The mechanic was very careful about her work, and the few zerglings that served as the star gate's welcoming committee were destroyed in short order.

Bree then examined the general status of the star gate, and noted that it was relatively sound. After that came the tricky part. "Stay close to me, we're going inside," she said. Inside was dangerous. Not any more dangerous than outside, mind you, but it still required honed reflexes and a keen intuition. Zerglings could hide in closets, ventilation shafts, and other spaces a person would never think to check. They were fairly skilled at setting up a rudimentary ambush, and so it was never wise to be off of one's guard.

Danial moved into the star gate ahead of Bree, and was somewhat relieved to see how wide the ship's corridors were. While there was always the threat of being mobbed by a horde of zerg, ambushes were far more common. In a human ship, Danial would have been heavily restricted in movement due to his heavy armor. He would not have been able to protect Bree from attacks from behind, and would have been a sitting duck against any zergling that attacked him in a tight spot.

It was dark inside the tunnels, and so Danial activated all of his scanners and turned on the various lamps on his chest piece, helm, and rifle. Bree fired up her own light behind him. They trumped his own, but cast strange shadows over their surroundings. The structure was eerily quiet, and Danial did his best to be silent. Despite that fact, his best still involved exceptionally loud clanking.

"You need to coat your boots with velvet or something," Bree noted jovially, trying to break the monotonous clanking.

"Heh, or maybe I should take my boots off and walk barefooted."

"Don't be silly, you couldn't possibly hold up the rest of the suit without power boots."

"It was a joke. I don't plan to take off my boots."

She smirked. "This place is reasonably intacts. If the warp crystals are whole, we'll have to report this place right away. Unfortunatly, they're all the way at the other side of the gate; the side sticking up in the air. We can't get Valk to land there, so we'll have to walk all that way without incident first."

"Well, I guess we better get a move on then," he agreed. After a moment of walking, he pulled out his side arm, a fairly large pistol.

"I don't like the silence either," Bree noted. "Or how nothing inside this ship seems damaged."

"Yeah, that's never a good sign."

The two came to a small gallery sort of room- an area where two hallways joined. The floor of this little gallery was entirely covered in a lake of dark blue… stuff.

Bree blinked, staring at it. "The hell?"

"Exactly what I thought," Danial muttered. The lake was opaque, and as much as he scanned it, he could detect no heat or other oddities. "It's weird, that's what it is." As his lights fully came to bare upon the water, the lake shimmered slightly. The marine blinked and knelt down, peering into the blue depths. The lake shivered.

"… You know," Bree said slowly, "that color… it's the same color as the insides of a Protoss Dragoon."

The surface of the lake began to change. The colors altered, and the surface molded into strange shapes. "The hell?" Danial grunted as he stood and backed away from the lake. Slowly, the once-blue surface altered to resemble many faces. Some, Danial did not recognize. Others were the faces of men from his unit. And those 'men' kept forming: faces, heads, power suits, necks, shoulders… "The hell is going on?"

Bree gasped involuntarily and flitted backwards.

"What is it? What exactly is this?" Danial snarled, raising both weapons and slowly backing away from the lake.

"… I don't know," Bree whispered, her face ashen with fright. The lake things had formed all the way down the waist, and were still emerging. "But I think we should shoot them. Now." And she pointed her gun directly at one and fired.

"Right," Danial murmured. He tried to pull on the triggers of his weapons, only to find his fingers betraying him. He could not bring himself to fire.

The ones that Bree shot at screamed and withered a bit, before starting to reform, flashes of energy skimming over them. Their reconstruction unnerved her, and she began backing up further.

"These are not my comrades," Danial murmured. Over and over again he whispered the words, until at last his fingers would respond. More of the things withered and screamed, until at last several were almost fully formed.

"H… help us…" several whispered in unison. Danial's hands stiffened again, refusing to hold down the triggers of his weapons any longer. He looked back at Bree, and then at the things. The mechanic was frozen and shock, and seemed unable to decide what to do. "Help… The… the Zerg… Oh please… please…" Danial grit his teeth, and then looked back at Bree.

"I say we get the hell out of here," he commented. "Maybe the protoss can figure this out."

"Amen," Bree whispered. Danial turned quickly, and retreated back through the passage ways they had come. Bree followed. Very quickly.

"No! No! Do not leave us! Do not leave!" the things wailed, stretching out their arms towards the duo.

Danial continued to clench his teeth. His feet sped up, and he found himself running back to the ship. A scream, piercing and ethereal, echoed after them. He looked back over his shoulder to ensure that Bree was still with him. She was. Best of all, the lake-things were not following.

When the two finally exited the star gate, Danial looked back at it and swallowed, both of his weapons still raised. "I seriously do _NOT_ like this place."

"Me neither," Bree agreed. "Something's wrong with it. That… that was not normal."

"Do you think the protoss might have a clue as to what the hell that was?"

The SCV shivered along with Bree. "I don't know… Let's… Let's tell Valk. She might have some idea."

"Right."

* * *

(cont.)

Valk listened to their story and just mused for a long moment. And after that long moment, she instructed them to bring her to the lake.

Both Bree and Danial flinched simultaneously.

"I was afraid you'd say that," muttered Bree.

Danial was more blunt: "Shit." He sighed slightly and hefted his rifle back into his left hand. "Alright," he muttered. "Let's get this over with."

Bree just grimaced and nodded, before very carefully picking Valk up and holding her in one of the "arms" of the SCV. Mechanic and marine approached the ship with great reluctance.

Now that he knew of the lake, Danial scanned the corridors of the ship twice as hard, spurred by light paranoia. He came across nothing new. The two proceeded to the lake without incident, where they discovered that the blue mass was once again flat. Valk frowned upon seeing its surface, and carefully scrutinized it. After a moment, she signaled Bree to set her down beside it. Bree winced, but obliged. Both mechanic and marine stood ready to fight off any apparitions of former friends.

Nothing formed out of the lake's surface. Valk pondered a moment and then carefully touched the blue surface. She pulled her hand back and looked at it silently for a long moment.

"It's blood," she at last noted. "A lake of protoss blood. And, for some reason, it's psionic."

"Ooh, lovely," quipped the marine. "And that means… what, exactly?" The water shimmered and Danial readied his rifle, but the blue surface did not form into anything.

"I don't know," Valk admitted, "and zhat's rare. But if you vant my guess? It is… a ghost… Or many ghosts, to be exact, all tied to zhis blood." She closed her eyes and again touched the lake.

Danial blinked. "But… you're talking about protoss ghosts, yeah? That doesn't make any sense! I saw the faces of the men in my unit-"

"It read your mind… And came up vith zhe zhing zhat could plead vith you zhe most. It vants somezhing. Mm… Ve should notify zhe protoss. Zhey vill be able to aid it." She retracted her hand and opened her eyes. "I vant to know vhat happened here. It says it vill let us pass."

Bree stiffened. Danial could hear the thrusters in the SCV adjusting to accommodate her. "We're going further in?" the mechanic asked. Valk nodded.

"Ve are going further in."

Danial shifted slightly, and then opened a private comm. link with Bree. "How does she know all this?" inquired so that Valk could not hear.

"Astrophenomenon," the mechanic answered. "Basicall, Valk studies the paranormal… scientifically."

"… That doesn't make me feel any better," the marine muttered dryly.

"It shouldn't. Any rational person would walk away very quickly from this whole matter."

"I guess that means we're not rational people?"

"You wouldn't be with us if you were."

The blood shifted. It began bubbling and moving. Slowly, tediously, a gap opened up in the center of it, and the liquid slowly parted. After a moment, a path was left through the center. Danial closed the private link and looked at Valk.

"I guess I'm on point, eh?" he asked grimly.

"If you so please," she answered.

He snorted and then nodded, and took a step into the gap. When it didn't close in on him, he continued walking. After a few steps, he glanced at the lake and silently apologized for it. It had evidently been through a lot, and he _had_ shot at it.

"_It's okay,"_ came its mental voice. He shuddered a bit at the fact that it had answered him, but nodded, and continued onward.

Bree scooped up Valk and followed.

"So, what exactly are we heading for?" Danial asked after awhile, advancing through the silent darkness of thee ship.

"Ve are trying to determine vhat caused zhis blood anomaly. Ve are also fulfilling our missing by checking out zhe varp crystals of zhe star gate."

"Right," he muttered, and continued to walk through the darkness. Again, there was little else but the clanking of his boots. He checked the ammo in his rifle and saw that he had wasted at least half a clip. As they walked, he quickly switched clips, and pushed the half empty one into reserve. He didn't want to waste ammo, but he also didn't want to have to switch clips in the middle of a fight.

It was quiet in the halls. Very quiet. No sound reached them, and even the echoes of Danial's footfalls seemed muffled. Nothing at all The quietness of the structure unnerved him. After some time, he suddenly had a fit of paranoia, and looked back to make sure Bree and Valk were both there. They were, of course. In his temporary panic, Danial had forgotten that SCVs hovered- and hovered quietly at that. The marine let out a sigh of relief, and then turned back to the path at hand.

Moments ago, the walkway had been empty. There were no doors on either side of the corridor, nor any holes, ventilation grates, or any other points of entry. Despite this, when Danial turned around there was a small protossian child standing before him.

He nearly jumped out of his armored suit in surprise.

According to human anatomical standards, the child was female; she was unclothed, but so young that her lack of covering didn't really matter. She was also very small- only around three feet in height- and very pale. Most noticeably, her eyes did not glow. They were utterly and entirely black.

She was just staring at him.

Danial swallowed, half turning his body so that he might converse with the women behind him. "Uh… guys? Do you see what I see?"

"Small freaky protoss kid? Black eyes, white skin? Looks like she popped out of a horror movie? Haven't seen her."

Danial grunted. Although the kid's unwavering gaze was seriously unnerving him, Bree's attempt at humor gave him a slight boost of courage. He attempted to communicate with the thing, despite his total loss for words: "Umm… hello?"

She docked her head to the side, but said nothing. Instead, she continued to stare at him.

Thoroughly disturbed, Danial risked a glance back at Valk. "You're the ghost expert. What the hell is this?"

Valk snorted, her eyes fixated on the tiny creature. "… This one's not dead, Danial… But neither am I getting anything from its mind. I have no idea what this is."

He was surprised that the girl was not undead. And that surprised him. A day ago, and he would have sworn to anyone that ghosts were fictional. He looked back at the little girl, and then slowly kneeled, placing himself on eye level with her. If the little girl wasn't dead, then what was she doing in the star gate? Had she been there since its crash? He looked her over, trying to divine anything from her eyes or features.

Her eyes were blank and black. After a moment, she lifted both her arms, in a manner that suggested she wanted to be picked up.

Once more, Danial glanced back at Valk, wondering what he should do. The woman merely shrugged. Perceiving that he would receive no more advice on the subject, he looked back at the tiny child, and then slowly edged closer to her to see her reaction.

She just stared. Her arms were still raised. She was so utterly still that for a moment he wondered if she were a statue.

He hesitated, and then gave a sigh of defeat, and carefully wrapped one armored arm around her. She made no protest; in fact, she wrapped her arms around his and clung to him. Up close, he could see her features more clearly. Her nerve endings were torn and shredded. She was covered in faint white scars. The scars… Danial grimaced slightly as he realized that each scar was very deliberate and very small. They had been made with a precise blade, and had healed well.

After a moment, he slung his rifle over his shoulder and gently picked the tiny child up in both arms.

"We're not going to stand much of a change against anything hostile we meet," noted Bree. The mechanic did not like their current situation, and she wasn't afraid to say so. "Valk, we should really go back."

"I agree," Danial said after a moment, "but..."

"… Just a bit farther," Valk murmured.

He agreed. For a moment, they were silent. Then Valk asked for his side arm, so that she might be of some use if they encountered anything. Danial situated the girl into his right arm, and ejected his pistol from his left bracer. The gun moved into his hand with a click, and he subsequently handed it to the pilot. He then juggled the girl into his left arm and returned his rifle to his right hand.

The child just clung to him, and rested her head against his armored shoulder. A small smiled touched his face. He shifted in order to better accommodate her, and then continued through the walkway, his rifle leading. After a moment, he paused. The girl was leaning directly against a light on his chest plate, and yet the light shone unimpeded upon the ground in front of him. He hesitated, and then slowly shifted so that the girl was entirely in front of the light. Nothing. The girl gave off no shadow of any kind.

Freaky. He mentioned it to Valk, but the woman had no explanation.

The group came to an area with many protoss bodies sort of just strewn about. Protoss looked freaky when dead. They reminded him of brittle insect bodies with all the insides sucked out. There were no wounds upon their bodies. Even Valk could not determine how they had died.

They at last came to a large gaping hole in the side of the starport. The hole led inward, towards the center of the wreck. When they approached it, they discovered that it lead into a hollow area where the center of the star gate warp gate had once been. Even more curious was the human science vessel wedged between the plates of the starport. A steeply graded mound of metal plates and rubble lead down to the starport. If they were careful, the four of them could get down to the level of the science vessel.

Danial eyed the mound and tentatively stepped out onto the top of it. It wobbled slightly. He had the notion he was going to need his hands. He glanced at the little girl, and then down the length of the mound. "Bree, you wanna hold the kid for a moment so I can climb down and scout this out?"

"Actually, I'm carrying Valk. If I hold two people, I won't be able to use any weapons," the mechanic responded. "Since we'll be separated by quite a distance, I would prefer to remain armed." If one were to be speaking honestly, Bree simply didn't want to touch the kid. It was… freaky.

The marine had half-expected such an answer, and he just nodded in response. "Hold on tight, okay kid?" he murmured to the small child. It was fairly unnecessary for him to say anything. With how tightly she was clinging to him, it was arguable that he couldn't have detached her if he had tried. He lifted his rifle arm to cover her in case he should slip or fall, and then proceed to hop carefully down the mound. He kept his jumps small so that he might identify what pieces were safe to land on.

When he got to around his sixth jump, he knew he'd misjudged his landing spot. The plate gave way underneath him, and he was certain it would go flying out from under him. And he would take a very long and unpleasant fall. Much to his surprise, the plate stabilized. He managed to catch himself from falling backward onto the mound, and then blinked. He glanced at the kid in his arms, and then continued down another hop. He turned around to see Bree following him, and opened his mouth to warn her about the loose plate. He then realized that, since she was hovering, warning her was unnecessary. His eyes flit a final time to the loose plate.

It was then that he noticed tiny little handprints all over the side of the plate. His jaw drooped slightly. His warning transformed into a fairly stupid "…uhh." His eyes widened, and he looked first at the little girl, and then at the mound around him. There was nothing. Danial scanned the area for heat or movement, and yet again came across nothing. Absolutely nothing. "Right…" he muttered.

After some labor-intensive searching, Bree at last managed to find an entrance to the science vessel. She was happy to let Danial go in first. The science vessel entrance hatch had been lodged wide open. The inside of the ship was dark with sterile white walls. The science vessel was laying partially on its side, but its gravity generators were still up and running. When the marine took his first step into the ship, he had to reorient himself to the sudden change in "up" and "down". His should scraped slightly against the edge of the wall. He paused, steadied himself, and then looked down at the little girl in his arms.

"Let's go in, shall we?" he asked. She offered no recognition that she even heard him.

After scanning the entryway of the vessel, he moved fully into the Terran ship, and began heading down its winding corridors. Bree and Valk followed closely behind him.

Again, here were no noises but the hollow clanking of his metal boots against the floor. Clank, clank, clank…


	3. For Science

I just finished watchin Shaun of the Dead... But That was AFTER I compiled this chapter...

That was an awesome movie.

* * *

**_On the Origins of Sasha: For Science_**

* * *

On Board the Crashed Protossian Stargate

The ship seemed to be running on a very small reservoir of power. Although the gravity generators were still fully functional, none of the ship lights were working. Bree had to manually open any automatic doors they came across.

Eventually the group came to an atrium- a "welcome to our ship" sort of room. It was coated so thoroughly in dead bodies that the floor could not be seen. The bodies had all once belonged to humans- scientists and researchers, to be exact. None of them had decayed; instead, they had all just sort of wasted away. They were in such pristine condition that expressions of agony and terror could still be discerned upon their faces. There was no blood around them, even though many of the victims had been disemboweled or ripped apart. The faded colors of their uniforms indicated that they had once belonged to the UED.

"Lovely," Danial muttered. "Valk, these look like UED. Any idea what the hell happened here?" He turned to look at her, and waited patiently as Bree brought her into the room.

"Mmm. The mystery grows and grows. As you know, the UED were only on Aiur for a short period of time; when they were at their peak. They- and you- were here to subdue the new Overmind and enslave the zerg to their will. It is not surprising that one of their science vessels should be here."

Danial frowned, but it made sense. He checked his scanner again for anything out of the ordinary. He flicked through sound, motion, and infrared settings. The only thing they could detect was that this particular room was extremely cold. "Disappointing. I-" And then, suddenly, his scanners picked up something. It was a sound; very soft and issuing from down a hallway.

"So should we head back?" came Bree's voice from behind him.

"Hold on- I'm detecting something. Everyone be quiet." Both women immediately looked at him. The mechanic did not bother turning up her SCV's scanner volume. She didn't want to hear whatever Danial was picking up.

He carefully adjusted his scanner's precision and volume. What he heard sent a liquid chill down his spine. Issuing softly from his suit's speakers was the sound of the laughter of several children. It was not mocking laughter, but real and innocent. "… Down that way," he said after a moment, and he pointed his rifle towards a hallway. He proceeded to step carefully through the atrium, trying to step on as few bodies as possible. When he reached the hallway, he had to sort of squeeze through. Science vessels were not made to accommodate armored marines. He hesitated only a moment, to ensure that Bree and Valk were following, before following the laughter.

It led him on, always vague and indistinct. Left, left, right, left, right, right, forward… At last they reached a door that was slightly ajar, and from that point they heard no more laughter. The marine eyed the door and then looked back at Bree's SCV.

"I think this is the room we're looking for."

"This is messed up," the mechanic said darkly.

"Very."

"Whatever happened here just isn't right." In the short time that he had known her, Danial had never seen Bree so unnerved. The mechanic did not like the science vessel at all. She was even being careful not to touch anything. He eyed her a moment, and then carefully positioned his rifle into the half open door and attempted to push the door open.

There was a furious whirring sound as a massive drill fell halfway through the door. It was colossal in scale- more like ship building equipment than like anything that should be found in a science vessel. The pointed bit stopped but an inch in front of his visor, whirring furiously and giving off sparks.

"Shit!" he gasped, jerking backwards. Of course, he could not move far in the cramped walkway, and his armor made a hollow clang as it thudded against the wall behind him. To his surprise, the little girl immediately perked up and looked around curiously. Her eyes never once went to the drill, but instead concentrated on the ground around him. Still trying to catch his breath, Danial looked around and then checked his scanners.

Normally, if he were viewing a living creature- like Bree, it would show up as a figure of red. Instead, he saw small, vague figures of the darkest blues and purples on his scanner. He easily recognized childish shapes flitting around him and disappearing; he could even hear their soft laughter. Quite suddenly, the drill was pushed back. The bit rose up and then fell backwards through the door, in the opposite direction from Danial. It landed with a harsh clang. The whirring of its motors persisted for just a moment; then there was the sound of an electrical shock, and the whirring halted.

The group was silent for a long moment. At last, Danial took in a deep breath, and opened the door the rest of the way with his rifle. He mentally prepared himself for whatever he might find, and shone his headlamp into the room. The room, of course, contained a laboratory. Ahead of him were all kinds of computers, and various tables laden with test equipment. He could just barely make out a hallway branching off from the side of the room.

"… I'm going in," he said after a long moment, and he stepped into the room and looked around. There was no power hooked up to the computer terminals. They stared out at him like a hundred angry black voids. As he could see nothing that would cause a busload of laughing children to lead him to this particular room, he carefully made his way to the side hallway. As he neared it, he looked behind him to make sure that Bree was still following. She was. He turned back around, and shone his light down into the depths of the hallway. All along the walls were stasis cells. At least forty of them. Each was tucked into its own little compartment, and they had long ago lost all power. Anything within them was probably dead.

Things were no longer so silent. There was an oppressive ambience to the air. Somewhere in the distance was a light dripping noise. He had the very distinct impression that he was in the exact position from which horror movie side kicks often disappeared from in movies. He took in a deep and steadying breath, and then slowly walked over to one of the cells. He oriented his lights so that they were shinning into the cell, and then peered inside to see if he could see anything.

He came face to face with the blank white eyes of a small human child. The marine jerked backwards with a curse word. After a moment, he moved forward again to get a better look. The child was female. She was positioned as if she had died while pawing at the side of the tank. Her fingers and toes had been transformed into thick claws, and she sported a tail.

"The hell have these scientists been doing?" he whispered, and then he looked over at the little white protoss girl. She was staring at the tank. He grimaced and wrapped his arm further around her. After a moment of looking at the stasis cell, he turned and moved to the next cell. Within was another human child- again female. That one was curled in the fetal position. She had been divided in half- straight down the middle, and a profile of her insides was visible. In the next tank was another little girl. She was horribly deformed, with organs on the outside of her, and vicious teeth and bones sticking out at weird angles. In the forth tank there was a little protoss girl with an extra arm growing out of her back and a fanged mouth split across her face.

The atrocities continued from tank to tank. They were filled with protoss and human children- mostly female. Some of them were whole and unmarred. Most were hybridized. Some sported stitches, mechanical implants, or cuts. Some tanks simply contained body parts. At the end of the hallway was another door, from which he could detect a heat source. By the time he reached it, he was thoroughly "creeped-out" from what he had seen. He looked behind him to see that Valk was also looking into all the cyro-cells, but with a more critical eye than he had.

"I'm going to open this door," he announced. "There is a heat source on the other side."

"If anything evil eats you," Bree piped up, "just remember: I told you so."

"Thanks," he remarked dryly. He turned back to the door and then slung his rifle over his shoulder. He clicked a button on his gauntlet, and a combat knife popped out of the wrist. In case something was standing just beyond that door, he wanted to be prepared for close combat. "Let's see what's behind door number two…"

When he opened the door however, there was no one there. The room contained another lab, this time with operating tables. It seemed unnaturally dark, as if the shadows were muffling his various lights and trying to smother them all together. He grunted and put away his combat knife, opting instead for his second side-arm. When he had the weapon ready, he took a careful step into the room, in the direction of the only operating table he could clearly make out. His light flooded over the table. He was not immediately freaked out by what he saw. He'd wet his pants enough times that day.

There was a child strapped into the medical table. The little thing's chest cavity had been opened up and partially dissected. Little zerg wings were spread out about it. It was clearly dead. The child's eyes were open and staring forevermore at the ceiling above it. It had neither wasted away, nor decayed.

The lights flickered, and then suddenly came on, as bright as daylight. On the walls, all along the length and breadth of the large room- even on the ceiling and on the floor- were finger-paintings in blood. They were childish finger-paintings, and featured subjects such as flowers and horses. There was the occasional boxy cottage with a stick-figure tree nearby and a smiling sun in the air. There were even little bloody handprints everywhere. His scanners indicated that all the blood was warm. It registered as somewhere around 80 degrees Fahrenheit- just warm enough to be freshly spilt. When he looked down at the child's body he discovered that it was warm as well.

"Valk? Bree? Make sure your weapons are loaded!" he called behind them. He remained focused on his scanners, and then blinked as he noticed something strange. The blood and the body were both getting warmer.

"I'm not going in there if I can help it!" Bree called. "And I think you should come out!"

"Agreed," Danial hissed. He slowly started to back his way out of the room, and then stopped as his eyes alighted upon something new. Huddling in the far corner of the room was something with a viable heat signature- something warm enough to be alive. He aimed his weapon at it immediately, and sqinted his eyes to get a better look. It was pitch black and slimy. "Wait… I got something."

"Danial, come on! We know this place is messed up, let's just go back!"

"Hold on a sec… Just let me check this out."

"_Danial!_"

He moved closer, his weapon still aimed at the creature. Once he got closer, he could tell that it was rocking back and forward. Even without his scanner, he could hear it humming a little nursery tune in a tiny, weak voice.

He kept his gun pointed at the thing, and hesitated over what to do. Finally, just asked the only thing that came to mind: "… Are you alright?"

It kept humming and rocking. The little song was growing louder. Ever few seconds, it gave a tiny sob. The little girl in his arms sudden stiffened

"I said, are you alright?" he asked again, raising his voice a bit. Something was up. He glanced at the girl he was holding, and noted that she was staring at the black, slimy creature.

He heard the dripping noise again, and then more dripping. He whipped his head around to discern the source of the noise. Now seriously freaked out, he could manage nothing more than, "The heck?" The various finger paintings had started to bleed. The body on the medical table had turned its head, and was not staring sightlessly at him. "Shit. Time to go," he grunted as he started to back out of the room.

The little girl in his arms was still looking at the black creature. When he began to back up, she stretched her arm out towards it, as if reaching for the slimy thing. Danial looked at her, and then attempted to set her down on the ground. Rather than complying, the little girl refused to let go. She merely looked at him, and then back at the black creature, never lowering her arm.

"You gotta be kidding me, kid…"

And then suddenly, he noticed something. The way her arm was stretched out, it was right in front of his chest plate light. Again, he saw the light shining off of the wall in front of him, with no shadow from her arm.

No shadow. None of any kind. Danial looked from her, to the shadow, to the pure-black creature huddling in the corner. "Oh shit." The little girl looked at him once more, and then again looked to the black creature. More blood dripped down from the walls. They were almost entirely red now. "… Right, then… Here… Here we go."

Danial breathed once in, and once out, and then slowly approached the black creature, until the thing was at his feet. It whimpered and looked up at him. Its face was protossian, but horribly disfigured. Teeth were growing out of its cheek, and half of its face was swollen and distorted beyond recognition. One brow sank down over its eye, and that same side of its face sported a horrible rash. It appeared to be dead, and its skin was gray and filthy.

"Its okay," he said slowly in response to its whimper. "Its okay, I'm not going to hurt you." To accent his point, he carefully lowered his side arm, and set it gently upon the ground.

It shifted, and he was able to see it more clearly. It had dorsal spines- the "wings" that Kerrigan sported. Its tiny, deformed hands had powerful, raptor-like claws. Most notable, its eyes were entirely black. Slowly, Danial knelt down beside the creature. He knew full well that what he was doing was dangerous, but the peculiar color of the black creature's eyes spurred him on.

"It's alright," he murmured.

The little girl in his arms strained forward, reaching towards the black creature. It shivered in response, and then moved a bit, turning fully towards them. There were sores all along its body that oozed blood, and it was covered in spikes and blades. After a moment, it slowly reached forward one of its deformed arms.

Carefully, Danial moved the little girl closer to the creature.

Their hands touched. And then, slowly, the black creature's hand seemed to melt, and slowly drift along the girl's arm. The black creature shuddered and then just sort of dissolved into a bloody mist that spread out along the wall. It took the exact shape of the little girl's shadow.

The marine breathed a slight sigh of relief, and then looked at the girl in his arms. It did not surprise him so much that her face was split wide by a zerg-like mouth. Nor that she had wings, claws, and a tail. After a moment, those features faded, and she returned to her normal appearance. Seemingly content, she leaned her cheek back against his shoulder, and closed her eyes.

Danial nodded and then stood up and looked around the room. The walls were bleeding heavily, and the body was gone. He nodded again and then made a quick exit, leaving his side arm behind and heading back into the stasis cell portion of the lab. Much to his surprise, Bree and Valk were not there. When he checked his HUD, he realized that both were outside of the science vessel. Almost immediately, they called for him over his communicator link.

"Danial! Get out here! There's zerg everywhere!"

One disaster after another. He swore and then started moving through the Science Vessel as quickly as he could, denting up the narrow hallways with his shoulders. Blood washed behind him, following him at his exact pace. It followed him all the way to the exit, and then stopped. He stepped out of the entry hatch, reoriented himself after the gravity changed, and then looked behind him at the science vessel.

When he looked back, the hatch was closed.

* * *

YARG! Review or I shall not update!


	4. Her Name

Yay! An update!

I intend to continue updating this fic. I'll be including more characters, including Raynor, Tassadar, Artanis, Zeratul, etc... But I'm going at a nice slow pace, so please forgive me. some of this is due to the fact that I want Starcraft II to launch so that my fic will fit better with the lore. Some of it has to do with the fact that I'm just plain lazy. Rest assured that I'll not stop updating, as I have plenty of material that's not effected, at all, by SC2.

Please enjoy the fic!

* * *

**_On the Origins of Sasha: Her Name_**

* * *

Beside the Science Vessel, the Bowls of the Crashed Protossian Stargate

There were zerg everywhere. Danial slung his rifle down from his back and immediately began firing. A quick survey of the situation showed him that Bree was already halfway up the scrap heap and attempting to get back into the stargate. The zerg were pouring down like insects from another area entirely.

There were far too many. Too many to kill. If he had used one bullet on each of them, then _maybe_ he would have had enough ammo. But since when was a single bullet enough to kill a zergling? He grunted and started running toward the scrap heap, laying down a spray of cover fire behind him as he went.

This immediately got the intention of the zerglings. They began swarming around the human science vessel, bounding towards him with murderous intent. They were faster than him, and they were many. Four zerglings could have taken down a man. He faced around four hundred.

He reached the scrap heap, ditched his rifle, and started to climb. There was no way he was going to survive this. No friggen-

At this point in time, the science vessel made a deep, gurgling computing noise. It shuddered once, twice, and then violently exploding into a shower of giant shrapnel. The zerg waves were ripped apart, and smeared bloodily over the ground. Danial grunted and shifted to protect the girl from the small debris that launched itself all the way over to the marine. He wasn't hit by much, and so he continued to climb, not daring to look back.

After a moment, he could hear the padding of zerg feet as the few surviving zerglings rushed after him. Again, he ran into a stroke of luck. Bree had already reached the top of the scrap pile, and was standing inside the stargate, on level ground. As he climbed, he could hear her and Valk shooting down at the zerg below him. By the time he reached the stargate, his pursuit was dead.

Bree lowered one of the SCV's large arms in order to help him up the last few steps into the protossian structure. He grunted and thanked her, and then quickly suggested they leave.

No objections were raised.

They ran (or floated speedily, in Bree's case) all the way back to the stargate's exit. The protoss bodies were gone. The lake of blue, protossian blood was also gone, as if it had never been. Their sudden disappearance kept Danial constantly looking down at the little girl in his arms, expecting her to be gone each time.

But each time she was still there, clinging to him.

Danial continued to run until he was completely clear of the stargate. Only when he was safely back at the valkyrie did he turn around to view the protossian building.

It was very still. The only sign of what had happened in its depths was a small trail of smoke issuing from where the science vessel had exploded. The forest was filled with animal sounds again. The trees creaked and groaned. Satisfied with the general state of things, Danial looked back at Bree and Valk.

"So what the hell was that?"

"Dunno," Bree answered. "Spontaneously disappearing blue blood ghosts… Little girls… Strange science vessels…"

Valk snorted, and looked to the marine. "Vhat did you find in zhe science vessel?"

"You were there, do I have to repeat it?" he inquired.

Valk blinked. "Vhat do you mean?"

Danial went cold inside. "You guys… followed me into the vessel… right?"

They looked at eachother.

Bree spoke up first. "Erm… Danial, you're the only one who went in… We stayed outside to look at the warp crystals, remember?"

"… Oh shit…" Danial breathed softly, and he looked back up to the Stargate and the column of spoke. "What I saw in there…? I'm not quite sure…" He swallowed and then looked down at the girl he was holding.

For the first time, she looked back up at him. For some reason, he gave a small smile behind his visor. For a moment, he saw a zerg-like mouth upon her face, curling into a smile as well, but then it was gone. While this was a bit disturbing, the little girl seemed quite happy, and she nestled against him and closed her eyes.

"But I'll be sure to try and explain it."

"So, our first 'big' mission, and we are already having paranormal experience with you," Bree remarked dryly. "You and Valk are going to be good friends."

"Speaking of which… Valk, could I borrow that astrophenomenon book you were reading?"

"I vill vread it _to_ you," she assured him. "If ve are taking zhat… creature… back vith us, I suggest we go now. Let the protoss scavenge /this/ vreck."

"Agreed. I'll tell you what happened in the science vessel on the way back to base."

* * *

(cont.)

Danial told them almost everything. He even told them about their presence in the vessel. When he was done, Valk pondered everything he had said, and at last confessed that she remembered nothing about the inside of the vessel. She went on to theorize that whatever he saw must have been for his eyes alone, and that the presence of anyone else would have complicated things. This was actually a fairly good explanation: if Bree had really been there, she would have riddled the shadow creature with bullets.

"I zsink…" Valk started slowly… "dat zees scientists vere experimenting on children. Vone got free… And slaughtered zhem. Zhe spirits of zhe children vanted zhe vorld to know vhat had happened to zhem. Zhey vanted zhe vorld to know zhe evil dat had been done here."

"That make sense…" Danial agreed. "But why would they only trust me to see this? What if I had shot the shadow creature?"

"Maybe zhey saw somevzhing in you vorth having faith in? I do not know.

"… Well, whatever the reason, I say we get out of here before any of the surviving zerg show up."

"Here, here!" chimed in Bree. Valk nodded.

"I am surprised zee child is still vith you…. Perhaps zhis is her vay of starting over…"

"Maybe," Danial murmured in agreement. He looked down at the little girl and then placed an armored glove softly on her head.

" Vhatever zhe case, ve should take zee rest of zee day off. Let us get back to zee base quickly."

"Amen!" cheered Bree. The mechanic plopped the valkyrie pilot unceremoniously in the cockpit and then 'hopped' happily into the cargo area. "C'mon Mr. Marine! Let us get _out_ of here!"

Danial grunted and plodded inside after her. The valkyrie was off the ground in record time, and speeding merrily back towards the base. Bree immediately powered down her SCV, hopped out of it, and hugged the insides of the ship. Danial supposed this was an indication of the mechanic's glee at being away from horror movie elements. In any event, the Marine moved up to the front of the ship, so that he might speak with Valk. The little girl was still resting in his arms, her eyes closed. She might have been sleeping, but Danial hadn't any idea whether protoss slept or not.

Valk's brows were creased, and she seemed deep in thought, but she smirked when he came up beside her. "Quite an experience, yes?" she inquired.

"Well… It was better than my first mission as a marine," he mused.

Valk was busy piloting, so she couldn't exactly look back at him. Still, he had the sensation that she'd redirected the majority of her attention his way. "It could have turned out much vorse. You vere lucky."

He said nothing.

"Vhat vas your first mission as a marine?"

"Desert. Hot as hell. I was ordered to guard this outlying base. We stood out in the sun and we baked, with nothing to look at but endless desert in all directions. And if that wasn't just peachy, the AC was malfunctioning in our power suits.

"… So being hot, bored, and smelling terrible vas vorse zhan encountering bleeding valls, disappearing bodies, ghosts, and horribly deformed, dead, and dissected children?" she asked, lifting a brow.

"At least it wasn't endless desert," he reaffirmed.

"Vell, I hear it can drive a man mad. But zhen, so can bleeding walls."

"Maybe I'm already mad, then," he answered with a laugh.

"You do have an uncanny ability to deal with terror. I have not yet seen you panic, in any situation."

"I guess once you've dealt with the Zerg often enough, "terror" stops getting to you."

"You vould be surprized. Marines get over their fear by putting on a macho powerhouse façade, but even that can fail if they are thrust into a situation they have no control over. Bree goes out into the jungle every day, sneaking crystal out from right under the noses of a sea of Zerg, all while singing a happy tune. And yet the child you hold in your arms utterly terrifies her."

The marine was quiet.

"Perhaps zhat is vhy you vere called to see zhe insides of zhe science vessel. For some vreason, you are too stupid to be afraid of ghosts."

Danial grinned at her.

"And I shall varn you… Supernatural things are not as uncommon as people zhink. Zhey merely require de vright circumstances. If you remain vith us, you are going to run into more paranormal events."

Silence.

"Do you vant to remain vith us, or leave?"

"I can handle it… I hope."

The valkyrie pilot nodded. "Good. Get a good night's sleep vhen ve get back. You've just acquired the antagonist from a horror story as a foster child."

Danial glanced at the little girl. Then he blinked, and reached back for his trusty rifle. A horrible memory flashed through his mind, and it occurred to him that he had thrown the weapon down in his scramble to get away from pursuing Zerg. He had thrown down his rifle. His first rifle. His baby, the girl that had gotten him through his months alone on Aiur's surface. The rifle that hadn't let him down, even when he'd been facing unspeakable odds.

"…Shit."

Valk apparently noticed the source of his dismay, and she chuckled. "Ve'll buy you a new rifle vhen ve return. You deserve it."

The marine wanted to protest. He wanted _his_ rifle back. Hell, he wanted to turn around right now, march back into the stargate, walk right up to where the science vessel had been, and dig the rifle out of the mess it had left behind. But to protest would not have been manly, and would have indicated he had an emotional attachment to a lump of metal. Furthermore, he didn't think that either one of his companions wanted to be anywhere near the stargate at the moment. Even Valk, who was interested in the paranormal, seemed unsettled by what had occurred.

So he just sighed and leaned back against the inside wall of the ship, regretting every second that they moved farther and farther away from his rifle. Eventually he found himself looking down at the little girl, and he moved one of his armored hands to gently stroke over her forehead.

"Hmm," he mused, brought of his weapon-oriented depression by a more immediate concern. "I just realized something?"

"What have you just realized? That you're lucky to be alive, or that you're crazy?" That was Bree. She was standing about five feet away, and craning over so as to see the little girl better. Apparently she didn't want to get any closer.

"… I just realized I don't know her name, or even if she has one."

"Oh gods, he's going to name it? Don't you know that if you name it, you'll get attached to it? And if you get attached to it, then we'll _never_ get rid of it!"

"Too late," Valk answered.

Bree groaned, and put a hand to her face. "No…" she whined. "We just got rid of the poltergeist that kept mismatching my socks!"

"Bree, I am still of the professional opinion that you are simply terrible at doing laundry," the pilot shot back, amused by the sheer absurdity of their conversation.

"Well fine then!" The mechanic looked back at Danial. "Just get it over with and name her already."

"I wouldn't know what to name her," the marine confessed.

"Name her something human or… or something exotic. You just need something to call her, right?"

Picking out good names for alien horror movie children wasn't exactly Danial's forte. The more he tried to think of a good name, the more he was stuck thinking about his rifle that he'd left behind. He'd even named the damn thing. It had its title carved into it in big bold letters: Sasha. Sasha?

An idea occurred to the marine, and he focused on the little girl for a moment, before looking up at his female compatriots. "How about 'Sasha'?" he asked, seeking their approval. They were women- surely women would know more about this than he.

Bree sighed and nodded. "Sure. Sasha. It shall soon join the legendary names of Michael, Freddie, and Jason."

"I think you're blowing things out of proportion," Danial responded. "She's just a little girl."

"She's a little girl who slaughtered hundreds of scientists and, apparently, fully armed protoss warriors. You didn't think that pool of blood and those protoss corpses got there by coincidence, did you?" Valk countered.

Danial went quiet, just looking at the little child. She seemed so very harmless and innocent in his arms, her white cheek against his breastplate, and her fingers attached to the grooves of his armor.

Sasha it was, then.

* * *

(cont.)

Danial must have fallen asleep on the way back to base, because before he knew it, he could hear the ship being docked, and he was blearily opening his eyes. He was brought fully to consciousness by Bree yelling "Home!" The Mechanic then hopped out of the cockpit and knelt down to kiss the ground. "Now as long as everyone isn't a zombie."

To their great fortune, everyone wasn't. It was somewhat anticlimactic, and a gross neglect of Murphy's law. Bree wasn't about co complain.

Valk chuckled and then rummaged around and produced a tidy sum of credits, which she handed to Danial. "First, get out of that power suit. Zhen take zhese and go buy yourself some new weapons. Get Sasha some clothes vhile you are at it. Zee shops are down zee left ving of de complex, at the very end. Can't miss zhem."

Danial blinked at her, and then nodded. He set Sasha down and changed out of his marine armor. After having a good stretch, he picked up the little girl once more. The marine gave a small wave at Bree, who was still paying homage to sanity, and then headed off in the direction Valk had indicated.

The little girl woke up halfway through the walk.

She blinked open her black eyes, and then looked around quite sleepily. Danial blinked and smiled. "Good morning," he offered. The little one looked up at him, but said nothing. Danial had the sneaking suspicion that their conversations were going to be one-sided for many years to come. "Right… I'm gonna get you some clothes. Cause, you know, we can't have you running around naked. Or something like that."

The child cocked her head to the side, and then looked around at all the people in the area. Danial just smiled and continued walking, until he reached a tiny mini-mall section of the complex. The shops there were decidedly military oriented. For a moment, Danial entertained the idea of dressing the little one in cameo, but he dismissed the idea. He looked around until he came to a small shop that sold civilian clothing. The gross lack of civilians in the area didn't seem to be doing it any harm. People rarely dressed in military outfit anymore.

There was no clothing for children in the store, but that was to be expected. The base was a salvage outpost, and most salvagers didn't bring their children out on missions with them. After walking around for a little while, Danial walked up to the owner of the store and asked if they had anything in storage that might be suitable for a little girl.

The owner, a woman of around twenty years in age, gave him the strangest look, and stared in bafflement at Sasha. Danial shifted uncomfortably. It had suddenly occurred to him that he had never, in all his months at the salvage complex, seen a protoss child. A human marine walking around with a naked protoss child was beyond unusual.

But apparently the woman had seen enough oddities in her life to let this one slide- at least for now. She turned her attention to a nearby computer consol, and quickly skimmed through the store's inventory.

"We don't normally stock anything for children, but we have a few special occasion dresses in storage that might fit her. If you'd wait just a moment, I can go dig them out for you."

"Alright," Danial said softly, relieved that the woman wasn't about to make a scene. He waited as she flitted off to the rear room of the store. For around five minutes he just stood their anxiously, hoping not to call attention to himself. In the end, it seemed his worry was for naught. The woman returned with several old little dresses, and laid them down over the counter for him to see.

At first, Danial almost panicked at the realization that he was going to have to make a fashion decision and determine what dress to buy for the little girl. But as he saw the dresses, he found he could immediately rule several of them out. The majority of the dresses were pink with flowers decorating them. His gut instinct told him that Sasha wasn't going to be a great fan of pastels. In addition to the pink dresses, there were two little white gowns, and a velvety black one, like a child might wear to a funeral.

Danial looked at those dresses, and then at the little girl. "See any you like?" he asked of her, although he wasn't certain if she understood. To his great amusement, the little girl was reaching towards the black garment before he ever finished speaking. "That one, eh?" he asked with a chuckle.

She stretched towards it, for it was beyond the reach of her little fingers. Danial picked it up and brought it closer to her. She immediately grabbed it and smothered her cheek against it. The marine chuckled. "Alright, I guess we will get that one. Any others you would like?" Sasha blinked, and then pointed to one of the white ones. Danial nodded and purchased both dresses.

There was a changing room in the shop, and so Danial brought Sasha to it and attempted to get the black dress on her. It was much harder than it looked, especially with her strange leg configuration. When he'd finally figured it out, he stood back to admire his handiwork.

The little protoss girl stood there, her pale skin contrasting sharply with the warm, rich black of the dress. She smoothed her fingers appraisingly over the velvety fabric, and tilted her head to the side at the texture. After a moment, she turned her dark eyes up to him, her ragged nerve endings clicking lightly together like pieces of brittle straw. There was a strange intensity to her gaze that would have unnerved the greatest of men. Danial, was somehow oblivious, and he smiled happily. "It looks good on you," he offered.

She tilted her head to the side.

* * *

Review, or I'll send Sasha after you! BWAHAHAHAH!


	5. Artanis

Hey everyone! I actually submitted this chapter a few days ago, but I didn't do it right. That is to say, I did not write the story correctly. I played the narrator too much, and the whole chapter was very passive and unengaging. So I took the original script and scrapped it, and wrote it all from scratch.

I would like to appologize for this. I do not usually have a Beta (editor) for this fanfiction (and my Beta is usually the one who gets on my case when I'm using passive language). When I realized I'd written this chapter all wrong, I nabbed my Warcraft Beta Arallion, and ran the story by her. So give a big hand to Arallion for uber-critiquing skills! Woo!

Also, my story will not follow the lore perfectly, but rather will dance around it. I began working on this project before Starcraft II was announced, and before many of the newest starcraft books were released Back in the day, the end of Starcraft I had been left fairly open. Now I'm eager for starcraft II's launch so I can continue interweaving my fic with real lore. But on the other hand, I'm taking artistic liscence, and going a little crazy. Forgive me, Hawki!

One one final note, this chapter introduces new characters, and explains some background. This chapter **does not contain Sasha**. Don't worry, we'll get back to her soon.

* * *

**_On the Origins of Kay: Artanis  
_**

* * *

Artanis was glad to find himself back on Aiur. He strode meditatively across the jungle floor, making sure to savor each step. Beneath his feet he could feel the soft earth of the jungle, moist, springy, and organic. The sensation brought back memories of his childhood, of running through the forest as dirt squished beneath his toes. They were juvenile recollections of course, but he could not find the heart to suppress them.

Aiur.

He was home.

The emotions he felt at that word were bittersweet. _Home_. He had been born here, had grown up in this place of life and light. As he listened, he could hear green leaves dancing lightly in the wind. Old trees creaked and groaned with the movements of the world, and not far from where he walked, animals chattered and cooed. The sounds were familiar, comforting even; they reminded him of a time when things had not been so very complicated.

"_Something wrong, praetor?"_ came a voice behind him. The praetor sighed and shook the nostalgic thoughts away. He was on Aiur for a reason, and he did not have the leisure time to dwell on things gone. As praetor, he had to be concerned for his people's future.

"_Nothing, templar. I was merely… remembering,"_ he answered.

Artanis had brought two zealot guards with him. Each had volunteered, eager for the chance to slaughter a few zerg. The templar warriors were not soft creatures by any stretch of the imagination. Like any soldiers, they trained themselves to push aside emotions and follow orders. The zealots behind Artanis were older than him by at least a century, and certainly more mature. Thus it was very surprising when one suddenly responded with:

"_My life for Aiur."_

Artanis glanced back at the warrior's cryptically spoken battle cry. Neither templar looked particularly moved, but there was an intensity to them, a yearning to remain and slay every monster that dared to profane Aiur's blessed surface. It occurred to him that the homesickness he felt was by no means an isolated thing. The whole of the protoss race missed Aiur. Even its most stoic members were affected. Artanis tucked those thoughts away for later review, and turned back to the task at hand.

He navigated his way quickly through the jungle by means of a small toe-path, his zealot guards following close behind him. On either side of the path, Artanis could see the half-buried corpses of broken photon cannons, torn to shreds by zerg claws. Ahead of him lay the spherical form of a crashed ship - a terran science vessel to be exact. A small group of protoss and humans was gathered here, moving with rising excitement.

As he came closer, Artanis saw that the ship was resting upon the shattered forms of several incomplete pylons. Beside it, a Khaydarin crystal formation jutted proudly into the air, its facets gleaming in Aiur's noonday sun. The sheer volume of crystal available invigorated Artanis and replenished his hope and determination. In order to rebuild the civilization of their ancestors, the protoss needed to secure a large wealth of Khaydarin crystals. These crystals were a central part of protossian culture, and were used in everything from pylons, to ship computers, to meditation aids.

There was, however, a down side to all of this. Khaydarin crystals had been brought to the quadrant by the Xel'Naga, and so were only found in places the ancient race had frequented. For this reason, it was difficult to find the crystals anywhere other than on Aiur.

Which meant, of course, that he had to send people to Aiur, right under the noses of the Zerg, to harvest the crystal.

_It's a good start,_ he mused silently, considering the glittering formations as he drew near.. When he rounded the bulk of the science vessel, he saw the full length of the crystal vein- a behemoth slab that twisted and arched over the earth for several hundred feet in length- and his eyes widened in appreciation. _A very good start, _he amended. He eyed the crystal contemplatively, and then looked up to the science vessel. It was leaning on its side with the letters insignia of the UED stamped proudly upon its surface.

"_Praetor."_ Artanis blinked and turned as a Khalai technician came up to him._"There are psychic emissions coming from within the Science Vessel. They seem somewhat hampered, as if by a psychic screening device. Shall we investigate?"_

Artanis blinked and nodded. _"Send in a small party of Khalai and humans. Make sure it includes engineers and scientists." _He looked to his zealot guards. _"Go with them, in case zerg have infiltrated the place. I will follow in a few minutes."_

* * *

The first thing Artanis noticed about the science vessel was the fact that there were no corpses. Not a single human body could be found anywhere on the premises.

"_What have you found?" _he asked of a technician several rooms over.

"_It seems all the laboratories have been destroyed. The human engineers have confirmed that some sort of fire was started in these rooms. We have found several damaged stasis tanks, but we have been unable to confirm what they once held. Furthermore, we have not been able to find human remains in any of the rooms. Several evacuation pods have been deployed. It is possible the crew escaped before the crash."_

An escape would certainly explain the lack of corpses. How fortuitous for the crew.

"_Have we gleaned anything from the ship's computer?"_

"_Unfortunately, no. It seems the computer has also been damaged. The humans speculate it was done intentionally, and we've found nothing that contradicts that idea."_

"_And the psychic call?" _Artanis asked, starting down a hallway.

"_It has diminished since we entered the premises. It is almost silent now. It is our theory that the emanations come from some artificial source that is slowly running out of power. What would you like us to do?"_

The praetor pondered for a moment. The salvage team was in something of a - how would a human put it?- "time crunch." The Khaydarin crystal had to be harvested quickly and quietly, and then spirited out from under the nose of the wild zerg. On the other hand, leaving the science vessel unexplored was a security risk. _"Are there any labs you have not yet checked?" _he asked at last.

"_There are four. Two are on the floor above this. Two are below," _a vague blueprint of the vessel passed from technician to praetor, and Artanis nodded.

"_I will conduct a brief search of the upper laboratories. Send a small party of humans to search the lower ones. If we find nothing, we will end our search for the source of the emanations."_

"_Yes Praetor."_

Artanis got his bearings, altered his course, and began walking. With luck, the whole ship would be deserted. Maybe they would even find the source of the emissions; perhaps a small psi screen that had been damaged in the crash, or some other mundane device.

It took Artanis a few minutes to reach the upper laboratories. He could have gotten there sooner, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him, and he'd allowed himself to peer into a few rooms. Two appeared to be private quarters. Another had contained a large volume of small work cubicles, which he'd found both fascinating and terrible. He could not imagine remaining in so tiny a place for any length of time.

In any event, the praetor did finally reach his destination, despite the minor detours. He was rather proud that he hadn't yet stepped on any broken glass shards, and was in a fairly good mood. The laboratory doors were sealed by very complicated and intricate locks. Undaunted by this obstacle, Artanis simply cut the door from its framework and knocked it over.

His eyes widened when he saw hundreds of tiny blue lights winking out at him from the dark expanse of the lab. This one had not been burned. Why?

Artanis paused a moment, and then took a step inside the door. Logic told him that humans would be unable to see into this darkness and would have supplied a light source. After eyeing the edges of the door frame for a moment, he located a small switch, and flicked it. Sterile white lights flashed on, lighting up the extensive lab.

With a nod of satisfaction, Artanis turned his attention to the room. Quite suddenly, the silence around the praetor seemed a dark and almost tangible thing, welling up with unspoken truths and half realizations. Directly before Artanis was a stasis cell, its contents turned to face him. His eyes focused on the thing, the baby-like creature nestled within the confines of the stasis cell. The dark silence burst, pouring over him in a tumult of disbelief and revulsion. He could almost feel his care-free attitude washing out of his body, replaced by a staggering numbness.

The creature had no face.

Its head was dominated by a great mouth and sharp, disordered teeth. Long nerve endings grew from every part of its body, every place a normal body nerve ended. The majority of the creature appeared to be inside-out, with organs growing in plain view. Plates of carapace sprawled in a haphazard fashion around it, and little spikes and claws protruded in clusters all over its body.

There was another stasis cell beside the first. Inside was a fleshy ball of spikes and limbs. Beside that was another cell; another creature. This one had an abnormal amount of appendages. Legs and arms stuck out at every angle, some small, some large, some fusing together. Horrified, Artanis stood back and cast a wide glance around the laboratory.

The stasis cells were everywhere.

He took a step further into the lab, and then another, and another. At first, it was hard to tell what the UED had been trying to accomplish. The specimens Artanis saw were grossly deformed, and lacked a concrete shape. As he moved further, however, the praetor came to see that the deformities were slowly lessening. It occurred to him that it had taken some time for the genetic engineers to get a handle on the DNA they were manipulating.

The cells were oriented in clusters of nine, forcing the praetor to circle them to see what each new experiment pertained. Quite suddenly, as he rounded one of the clusters, he came upon something new. A small, childish form was curled up in this cell, its face and nerve endings distinctly protossian. Its body, however, was gnarled and coated with spikes. Its fingers ended in crude claws, and thick, deformed dorsal spines jutted from its back.

Artanis blinked at it, and came even closer to the tank. A cursory examination revealed that the creature was female. She was no larger than a newborn. Her face was smooth, and rounded out by baby fat. Her little eyes were closed, and her body was drawn into a fetal position.

The praetor's eyes widened in dismay as the truth broke over him like steadily mounting waves. A Hybrid. The humans were trying to make a hybrid of protoss and zerg blood. A sense of revulsion swept through him, and he lurched back from the childish abomination as if stung. His brain worked furiously, trying to accept this new information and yet wanting to reject it at the same time.

A protoss spliced with a zerg! Unconscionable!

The little girl twitched lightly in her eternal and artificially induced slumber. A psychic wavelength emitted from her, a sample of her dreams. The tiny thing had never opened its eyes, had never joined with the Khala. Its mind was so simple, so primitive, that its dreams were nothing but a series of pleasant sounds and colors.

Pleasant? Artanis' thoughts were brought up short, and he eyed the heretical creation uncertainly. A whimsical broadcast of happy colors was not exactly what he had expected from a half-zerg monstrosity.

She was still again, like a blasphemous sculpture. Artanis took a deep, considering breath, letting his outrage fade with some reluctance. The girl was not cut from evil itself, but rather shaped into something dark by the hands that had wrought her. It was the humans who had done this. The little one was blameless.

The praetor watched the little abomination for a moment, and then came back up to the glass. He lifted a hand, and laid it lightly upon the glass before her face. He could not connect the child to the Khala - to do so would be too risky. But then, the Dark Templar still believed in the existence of the spirit after death…

It did not take much energy. Artanis simply reached inside her mind and ended all activity. She had no mental barricades, no ability to resist him. It took her all of three seconds to die, a fact that a computerized voice confirmed but a moment later. The praetor sighed, and stepped back from the cell.

"_Come swiftly to the upper laboratories," _Artanis said carefully to those located on the floor below.

"_Praetor?"_came the mental voices of several technicians.

"_Swiftly!"_ he repeated, perhaps a tad sharper than he had intended. _"I have found evidence of what the humans have been doing here." _The praetor swept a pitying gaze around the laboratory. These poor creatures had done nothing to deserve pain or suffering. He would end all of their lives in this manner. Any other way would be cruel._"They have been engaging in biological experiments. They have-"_

Artanis's eyes suddenly fell upon a large cell at the very end of the laboratory, and the praetor fell silent. Just as he'd thought himself to have come to terms with the extent of this depravity…

"_Praetor?"_

The inhabitant of the cell was curled in a fetal position, but it displayed features not much younger than Artanis's own. It was massive. If it had stood up straight, it would have towered at ten feet. The other experiments had been pitiful things, half formed and grotesque. But this thing… This atrocity …

It was, in a horrible way… beautiful. An elegant creation streamlined and adorned with long, sweeping blades and horns that only maximized its glory. Its face might have been wholly protoss once, but a toothy mouth now split wide its center. A great and ornate crest adorned its head, ending in spikes and protecting the nerve endings that coursed delicately down its back. Its chest was adorned in rough natural armor. All four of its arms ended both in thick claws and in structures that looked like they might either launch spikes or project a primitive form of wrist blade. Graceful dorsal spines shot up from its back like wings, and a bladed tail curled up from under its body and eclipsed its head.

Artanis staggered backward in awe and horror. It took him several moments to compose himself. _"Praetor?"_ came the alarmed voice of a Khalai.

"_Have you recovered _any_ information from the ship's computers?" _he asked in a low voice.

"_No. We have found some paper documents, but nothing of any use. Most just detail various security codes for the ship."_

Artanis pondered this information, never taking his eyes off of the hybrid. There could be no doubt; this creature was meant for combat. And as a more fully developed experiment, it could be aware – and dangerous. _"Is there a termination protocol for stasis cells?"_

Artanis conferred with the technician for a moment longer. Then he went quietly up to the cell's console and tapped in the termination protocol. The cell began to glow and power up, and the console requested a confirmation number. He entered it without pause.

Twelve thousand volts of electricity rippled through the cell, bright enough to force Artanis to shield his eyes. To the protoss's alarm, the creature was not killed instantly, but instead jerked awake and proceeded to scream and claw at the cell for several minutes before it simply exploded, lining the cell in a thick layer of hot, energized gore. The glass cracked slightly.

Not for the first time that day, Artanis found himself utterly disgusted by humans.

* * *

Sasha should show up in the next chapter, or the one after that. Enjoy! 


	6. Cute

Aha! This chapter is split up to feature both Artanis and a wee bit of Sasha. Yay!

* * *

**_Cute_**

* * *

_Science Vessel-Aiur_

When the Khalai technicians arrived, Artanis instructed them to catalogue everything they found in the lab. He did not stay to see their expressions of horror, and instead just walked out, his expression grim. Whatever the humans had been doing there, whatever horrible experiments they performed, whatever terrible purpose they had possessed, Artanis would find out. There would be judgment for this travesty.

Artanis stepped deftly over the spilled remains of a supply closet. His mind was elsewhere, thinking of the terrible abominations he had witnessed that day. But as he moved, something rustled within the depths of the closet, and it roused from his contemplations. He lifted his head and looked inquisitively at the closet. The door to the little room was only partially opened.

As the protoss leader watched, a single rations bar tumbled out of the darkness, bounced once, and came to rest near him. Artanis looked down at the bar for a moment. It was neatly packaged in silver foil with the UED insignia stamped upon its front. The upper right corner of the foil, however, had been peeled back, and part of the bar had been bitten off.

As a protoss, Artanis was not familiar with food. The praetor blinked at the object and knelt slowly, reaching down to touch the strange item. When he saw there was nothing hostile about the package, he picked it off the ground and examined it. On the reverse side of the foil was listed a great wealth of information. The bar contained obscene amounts of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals- everything a body needed to survive. After contemplating the contents for a minute or so, it occurred to Artanis the purpose of the package. It was food. Highly concentrated chemically bonded energy- the kind of which humans would require to sustain themselves.

It took Artanis only a few moments to realize that for part of bar to been eaten, _something_ must have eaten it. So, logically, _something_ was in the supply closet. Immediately, the praetor's gauntlets flared to life, and bright blue psi-blades arced forward from their depths. He eyed the supply closet for a moment, and then carefully reached forward to grip the edge of its door. He flung it open without the slightest bit of effort, but the sheer strength of his movements almost tore it from its hinges, and caused cans and bars to tumble to the ground around him.

The closet was dark. Artanis squinted, but could not see far into its depths. After eyeing the edges of the closet for a moment, he located a small switch, and flicked it, illuminating the tiny space. There were boxes of ammunition, and a small stockpile of rifles. Bottled water stood out against one side of the room, and canned food stood out against the other. No zergling or hydralisk leapt out at him however, and when he looked around the room he saw no place in which such a monstrosity might hide.

Puzzled, Artanis stood up straight and allowed his blades to dissipate. He could hardly think of a reason for which a rations bar might eat itself, but then maybe the science vessel had an infestation of vermin. Yes, the more Artanis thought of it, the more it seemed that this was the work of small lizards. The ship had crashed on Auir, after all. The surrounding wildlife was simply finding ways to profit from it.

On a whim, he turned his gaze upward, just in time to see a fat tail slither up into the closet's open ventilation shaft. The praetor stiffened, watching the area where the tail had disappeared. He hadn't gotten a very good look at the creature, but his instincts warned him that no animal native to Auir possessed such a tail.

Zerg.

The Praetor's mind worked furiously. He followed the path of the ventilation shaft with his eyes, and then swiftly reached upward and crushed in a portion of it with one hand. He then exited the closet and hurried one room over, where a movement of his hand crushed in another portion.

With this done, Artanis waited, listening. Assuming he'd moved fast enough, nothing would be able to get past the places he'd crushed in the shaft. The thing he'd seen would be trapped between those two points.

For a long moment, there was silence, and Artanis began to fear that the thing had moved too swiftly and too silently for him to catch. Then he heard the distinctive sound of claws on metal as something began pawing at the crushed shaft nearest to him. The praetor moved swiftly behind it, readied himself, and then shoved his hand palm up into the ventilation shaft, just behind where he guessed the creature to be. The metal buckled and was crushed closed. The pawing noises ceased immediately. Artanis's eyes glowed briefly blue. He called forth his wrist blades again. Then, standing slightly to the side of the ventilation shaft, he pressed one wrist blade to the metal, and began to gut the little prison he had made. A few quick cuts later, the bottom panel of the ventilation shaft tumbled to the ground before him.

The praetor frowned mentally. He crouched down, held his blades at ready, and carefully stepped under the shaft, looking up. A hole had been cut in the top of the shaft- a hole through which his prey had obviously escaped. The protoss lifted a brow at the creature's ingenuity and unwillingness to fight. Without a cerebrate to look after them, zerg were notoriously stupid and violent. It didn't make sense that any zerg wouldn't have taken the opportunity to attack Artanis. But, on the other hand, no other creature could have cut through metal.

Artanis did not like the idea of zerg running around on the ship. The science vessel had crashed into a cluster of damaged pylons. Khaydarin crystal was scattered all over the premises, and his warriors would be working for days to gather every last shard of it. Any zerg nearby might complicate things. He once more dispersed his blades, and mentally instructed some of his warriors to search the hydroponics room for the presence of the wretched aliens. The hydroponics room was connected to all the ventilation shafts of the ship, and would be the ideal resting place for a hive.

Artanis turned to leave. He exited the room and began walking down the hallway. An idea occurred to him, however, and he backtracked to the supply closet. Simple intuition told him the creature might return to this place, searching for food. Zerg were normally nourished entirely by creep, but in its absence required other food sources. The praetor stepped carefully over the various packages, and then turned off the closet light.

And he waited.

* * *

_Main Scavenger Base, Aiur_

Morbid dresses were not the only thing on Danial's shopping agenda, of course. There was also the matter of his missing Gauss Rifle and side arms. He browsed around a bit, and when faced with ten separate but nearly identical weapons stores, he selected one using the tried and true, "Eeny-meeny-miny-moe," technique. Confident in his store selection, he strode in, walked up to the counter, and inquired, "Do you have any C-47 Gauss Carbines?"

The man behind the counter looked at him like he was retarded, and gestured to the exceptionally long rack of Gauss Carbines behind him.

It was a standard issue weapon, after all…

Humbled by the stare of assumed-stupidity, Danial just quietly asked for one of the carbines, along with two pistols and the necessary ammunition. He examined the three guns carefully, paid for them, and then managed to strap on all the equipment without setting down the little girl he carried.

Entirely unimpressed by Danial's child-holding while weapon-strapping abilities, the man at the counter just crossed his arms over his chest and gave a sort of monotone glare at the world in general. Undaunted (He'd seen worse, after all), Danial thanked the man and headed off at a reasonably cheery pace.

"Well, I think I've done all the shopping," he reflected, both to himself and to the little protoss girl. "Let's go see what Bree is up to. I think she said she was gonna be at the mess hall…"

Bree was, in fact, at the mess hall, and she had just started on her fourth plate of food. When Danial spotted he walked over to her table. "Hey, Bree," he greeted as he took his seat. He tried to set Sasha in the seat beside him, but the little girl clung to him tightly. Danial blinked and changed tactics, sitting her in his lap instead.

"Hey!" the mechanic answered cheerfully. Then she paused as she saw Sasha, and gave a worried frown. "Have you been walking around with her all day?" she inquired.

Danial blinked and shrugged. "Since we got back, yeah. Why?"

Bree shook her head. "Danial, I've worked with protoss for a few good years now, and never once have I seen one of their kids. You probably stood out like a sore thumb with her in your arms."

The marine fidgeted. "Is that bad?" he inquired.

"I don't know," she responded. "I had hoped you'd bring her back to our room. If the protoss get wind of her, they might try to find out why you have one of their young. What if they tried to take her away from you, hmm? Be careful with her."

Danial winced, remembering Bree's words from earlier that day, about how Sasha was dangerous, and that she had apparently slaughtered armed protoss. The blonde mechanic was right. If people started showing an interest in Sasha, something messy could happen. Suddenly worried, Danial stood up again. He grabbed one of Bree's plates of food (she as of yet had two uneaten ones), thanked her, and headed straight for their room.

Bree watched him go and waved after him. She _had_ intended to eat that plate of food he'd stolen, but she would rather have Sasha out of the public eye as soon as possible. Bree was no stranger to ghosts. They were emotional things, wrecking disaster out of pain, not morals or logic. The last thing Bree wanted was for some idiot to get Sasha upset in a public place…

She had a feeling it would result in a lot of supernatural blood lakes…

Danial held Sasha close and tried to cover her with his arms, suddenly paranoid about what the people around him thought of her. Although it only took him around five minutes to reach the room he shared with Bree and Valk, the walk _seemed_ to last for hours, and the marine breathed a heavy sigh of relief when he finally reached his familiar bunk bed. Since the room lacked chairs, he sat down on the edge of his bunk and carefully pulled off his new weapons, leaning them against the wall.

Sasha sat in his lap and eyed the plate of food he held, suddenly more responsive than he had ever seen her. Danial blinked and looked curiously down at the little girl. As far as he could tell, Sasha had no mouth, no means by which she might eat food. Still, she seemed very interested in the plate, so he held it down at her level and let her investigate the contents.

"Can you eat?" he inquired, although he doubted he would get any verbal answer.

She regarded the large chunks of meat and vegetable matter for a long moment, and then looked up at him. The shadows on her face seemed to change and meld, framing a phantom zerg mouth. The teeth and jaws solidified into something almost skeletal, with thick mandibles at its side. Even as it was still forming, it opened, gaping hungrily up at him.

"… So… I guess that's a yes?" She didn't move, just continued looking at him, her wide mouth still open. "… Alright, well you can eat this then. It might not taste good, but its got everything you need." She didn't even blink or twitch, didn't move one inch, and instead just waited patiently.

"… Yeah, I didn't figure you would eat by yourself," he admitted. He lifted his unoccupied hand to the plate and selected a piece of meat that looked fairly good, and then plopped it carefully into her fanged mouth. She accepted the morsel daintily, chewed, swallowed, and opened her mouth again.

"'Feed me', 'Feed me Seymour' she says," Danial quoted with amusement, and he offered her another bit of food. "You know, we're going to have to eventually teach you to do things by yourself."

If the idea bothered Sasha, she didn't let it show, just munched on what he gave her until she was full. Then the zerg mouth melted away into pure white skin again. Danial lifted a brow, but then shrugged and ate the rest of the food himself. Content, Sasha snuggled into him, and turned her attention to her two new dresses. They seemed to utterly facinate her, and she ran her fingers over their fabric time and time again. While he ate, Danial examined her more closely.

As he had noted earlier, her nerve endings were badly damaged. Covering her body from head to toe were light scars and even a few stitches. They were all small, very deliberate, and hard to see against her pale skin- the type of scars that came from scalpel blades. One feature that he hadn't noticed before was that she appeared to have light mechanical implants running down the length of her spine. He frowned and reached around her to touch them, and then to stroke over her nerve endings, down to where they ended torn and battered.

Sasha shivered, and looked up at him. Danial blinked at this reaction, and looked to her face, to her featureless, black eyes. He tilted his head to the side and then carefully ran his hand over her nerve endings a second time. As he did so, something unique happened. An expression of bafflement slowly formed over her face- the first emotion Danial had ever seen her display. The marine smiled and set his hand at the top of the nerve endings, and gently rubbed back and forward.

Slowly, the very edges of her mouth reformed, twisting into a little zerg-ish smile. The look upon her face was reminiscent of a cat getting its ears scratched. Happy to have discovered this trait of hers, Danial continued for a few moments before just patting her head and wrapping his arms around her.

"Meh, you're not so bad," he said fondly. Sasha nestled up against his chest.

* * *

_Science Vessel-Aiur_

For quite some time, there was naught but silence. Artanis was young and impatient, but the lives of many rested in his hands. If zerg were indeed on board this ship, he needed to know. So he waited. And waited.

And a good half hour later, his patience was rewarded by soft skittering noises one room over. Artanis heard an entity writhe carefully out of the ventilation holes and land with a plop upon the floor. He stretched his mind out, dancing around the creature, careful not to let it notice him. He could feel it move. It stood and began to plod across the floor. When it reached the doorway it poked its head out and looked first to the left, and then to the right. When all seemed safe, the creature hopped out the door and quickly skittered up to the supply closet. It assumed, wrongly so, that nothing in the supply closet would harm it, and so hopped into the little room without thinking twice.

It landed directly in front of Artanis, whose blades emerged glowing and blue from his gauntlets.

For the umpteenth time that day, Artanis stared. Bathed in the surreal light of his psi blades was a little creature that stood no more than three feet in height. It was ugly beyond comparison- hideous, in fact.

To begin with, the creature seemed a collage of many things that were not meant to exist in just one body. That factor was enough for Artanis to realize that the thing before him was a hybrid- a young hybrid that had somehow escaped its cell. Yet this was not the only trait that factored in to its disturbing appearance. The creature's parts had come together in all the wrong manner, causing mutations and deformations in the child's body from head to toe.

Its face was decidedly protoss, with high cheekbones, a long jaw, elegant planes and graceful lines. However, the bone structure was not perfect. The cheeks were too wide, too powerful, and almost heart-shaped, a feature borrowed from humans. A nose had tried to form at one point, but had inevitably failed, and so left several gill-like slits upon the front of the child's face. A deformed crest stretched backwards and to the side of its head, shielding nerve endings that were tattered and inconsistent. From the other side of its head grew a withered ear. Most unnerving of the creature's facial features was its mouth, which had failed to assert itself. Rather than splitting open the whole of the child's face, the mouth started in its right cheek and stopped, quite abruptly, at the halfway point, in the center of its face. Thick tusk-like teeth protruded from this half mouth, pointed and sharpened. There must not have been much space inside the creature's mouth either, for its tongue lolled out between its teeth, long and pointed and writhing back and forward as it tasted the air.

And its face was only the beginning of its ugliness! One of the child's arms was very much protoss- blemished only by the fact that it was tipped by claws. The other arm, however, was entirely missing, replaced instead by two scourge wings. The wings were mounted on a shoulder much higher than the normal protoss arm, a hint that the child's spine was also lopsided. As Artanis's eyes moved downwards, he saw that one side of the child's torso was bigger than the other, and so one side of its ribs overlapped the other side.

Here, carapace made a weak attempt at protecting its deformed owner, becoming thicker and less mobile as it neared the waist. Even further down, the child possessed one straight leg, like a human's, and one leg that was curved like a protoss's and ended in thick, looping ultralisk claws. Completing the picture was a single dorsal spine (or 'wing') that protruded from the center of its back like a fin, and a thick, unwieldy hydralisk tail that dragged around behind the unfortunate thing.

Artanis grimaced, disgusted beyond measure by the foolishness of humans. Muscles bunched in his arm, and he drew his hand back, preparing the blow that would bring a merciful end to this poor abomination's life.

"_Hi!"_

His eyes snapped to the child's face as the cherubic voice danced about within his head. Bright blue eyes gazed up at him in wonderment. Its mouth was turned up in a quizzical but never-the-less delighted smile, and it giggled lightly.

"_Pr-pretty!"_

The praetor's eyes widened, and then widened even more as the little thing tottered closer to him, reaching out to touch one of his blades. His thoughts were too scattered, to bipolar for him to jerk the blade back or stab forward. Instead, he did nothing as the child's fingers reached forward and brushed against his psi-blade.

The second the little one touched the glowing weapon, its fingers were burnt as if by a burst of flame. The child gave a cry and jumped backwards. Much to its misfortune, it did not land well. It stumbled over a bottle of water, tripped on a can, eeped, and finally fell backwards into a plastic box of rations. Unfortunately, most of the rations had spilled out, so the near-empty box flipped over. The child's butt connected solidly with the ground, and the flipping box connected solidly with the back of its head. The little one sat there in surprise for a moment; then it took in a deep breath and began to cry.

It was not soft crying either. The child began to bawl in the manner only children can bawl- out of control, with great sobs and wails and hiccups and boogers and occasional hyperventilation.

The praetor just looked at her, an expression of confusion and dismay etched clearly on his noble features.

* * *

They never taught him how to deal with these things in Templar School... 


	7. Dilemmas

Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in awhile ;) Life Attacked me with pencils and paper (GASP!). This chapter is short compared to the others, but I felt that it needed to be. Another chapter _might_ be comming soon. Wish me luck!

* * *

Dilemmas

* * *

Artanis just stood there, at a loss for what to do. He had never seen anyone cry before, and the experience was unsettling. Things might have been mildly better if the little abomination were not part protoss. As it was, the child's physical wails were accompanied by psionic waves of distress.

Quite suddenly, and without any command on his part for them to do so, his blades flickered, almost dispersed, and then reappeared again. The praetor looked down at them in surprise, and then docked his head to the side when they began to fizzle and crackle, flickering and threatening to gutter out all together. Confused, Artanis dismissed the blades and then recalled them. They continued to flicker.

_What is this? I have heard of blades faltering when a templar is exhausted, but I am fully awake. A single blade might malfunction on occasion… but two? At the same time?_ He looked worriedly around, concerned by this new development, trying to divine what was causing the flickering. He felt no psionic dampening device nearby; indeed, the little hybrid's psychic cries were coming to him loud and clear.

His golden eyes turned back to the wailing hybrid, the first and most immediate of his problems. There were glossy tracks on its face, and the flesh around its eyes was puffy and red. The child started sucking grotesquely on its burnt hand, and the tone of its wails changed. With much of its mouth occupied, its cries sounded more like the croons of an undersea animal than the voice of a human.

It was pathetic.

_I should kill it_, he reflected. _It is zerg._

The only problem with this assertion was that it didn't act like a zerg. The creature gave off an aura of such complete vulnerability and helplessness that he could not even begin to classify it as dangerous.

_It is a wretched thing. A mockery of all I am; a manifestation of all I fight against. In it, the zerg have stolen everything we hold dear, have warped it into something dark, _his well-honed and rational mind persisted.

_It's a girl, _another part of his mind reflected. _She is probably around four years old._

Artanis shook his head. _Foolish thoughts. I have killed two of these things already. One was but an infant, and both were probably female. Such traits do not exempt this creature. _

The little one's tears stemmed from confusion and hurt, and her mental wails were pure of any malice. Here was a creature innocent and naïve, a creature who had done nothing wrong- nothing deserving of death.

_Such a creature does not belong in this world. She could only grow into something destructive and unwanted. There is no future for her worth living. It is best that she dies now, before she becomes a monster. Best that she, like the others, dies while still innocent._

He carefully stepped up to her and knelt down. Her white-blue eyes darted to his blades and she jerked back an inch, remembering the pain they had inflicted on her fingers. A cry escaped from her lips, and both blades momentarily dispersed altogether.

Artanis blinked, looking down at one gauntlet. Then he lifted his eyes back to the little hybrid. He pondered to himself a moment, and then experimentally moved one of the blades closer to her. She gave another cry, and both blades flickered off immediately. This time they stayed off. Intrigued, Artanis drew the gauntlet back to him and carefully pulled it from his arm.

It was a relatively simple manner to open it up, that he might look at the components that generated his psi blades. At the heart of every gauntlet was a prismatic Khaydarin crystal, shaped to direct a stream of psionic energy and mold it into a focused triangular weapon. Ordinarily, these crystals were a soft blue color, and would glow with the application of psionic energy.

To the praetor's astonishment, the crystal in his blade was an ugly shade of gray, and reacted not at all to even the heaviest stream of psionic power. It was if the crystal had gone entirely dormant.

Artanis's eyes flicked back to the little hybrid girl, and he blinked several times at the upset expression on her face. She was leaning back from him, her round eyes focused apprehensively on his blades, flicking from them to his face, scared, hesitant, so naïve. It occurred to him that he had brought the weapons uncomfortably close to her, and she was frightened he'd touch her with them and she'd get burnt again. An unpleasant sensation welled in the depths of his genetically recessive stomach, something visceral and emotional.

Frightened he'd _touch_ her with them.

He had planned on stabbing her.

A little child was frightened of him.

_Foolish thoughts, foolish emotions. This creature is zerg. A monster. A wretched, disgusting form of life. I have killed thousands of zerg, including their larva. I will doubtless kill thousands more before my life is done. I ended the life of a young hybrid just recently. It was _mercy_._

_To kill her, I will have to grab her, pin her, and snap her neck. She will scream and cry while I do so, and she is also psionic, so I will feel her die. Like a protoss. I will feel everything she is pass from this world into oblivion. Her favorite foods, and colors, her favorite place to sleep, the games she likes to play, I will feel all these things die. I will have killed a fully developed person._

… _That's called murder. _

_I've killed humans._

_Have I killed their young? It's not the same…_

_The protoss have burned whole planets of humans. I'm sure that human young were still in residence._

_Tassadar thought it was wrong._

_She's scared of me._

And for some reason, that felt wrong. It made him feel like a monster, like a murderer, and he did not like these sensations. Her wails grated on his nerves and wore down on his psyche. He did not like having his perceptions of friend and foe toyed with, and yet found himself deeply opposed to harming this wretched creature any further. Seeing as he could not simply dispel these bizarre feelings, he resolved himself to the possibility that he might _not_ kill the little girl. His insides appeared to find this compromise acceptable. Now there was just the matter of stopping her incessant crying…

Artanis watched the little girl for a long moment, and then carefully pulled off his other gauntlet and showed it to her. _"See?"_ he inquired. _"No blade. It won't hurt you. Will you please stop that horrible noise, now?"_

The hybrid blinked, her cries slowly dissolving into sniffles and tiny whimpers. After a moment, she lifted a hand and touched the strange metal.

"_P-pretty,"_ she murmured psionically in wonder, her fingers tracing over the curves and ridges of the gauntlet. Her mouth did not seem complete enough to form human words, but she emitted a curious trill.

Immediately, the gray crystal in Artanis's gauntlet turned a brilliant blue, and the praetor was certain he could see hints of pink about its coloration. The protoss looked quickly between the hybrid and the blade, and his golden eyes widened. Until just this moment, he had believed that something about the hybrid was psionically dampening his blades. Now…

_Are they… Are they reacting to the noises she makes?_

Keen on testing this theory, for he had never heard of such a thing before, Artanis looked for some way to provoke another trill. An idea occurred to him, and he took the gauntlet she was examining and gently placed it in her lap. Her eyes widened in surprise, and a large smile spread over her face. She quickly hugged the gauntlet and ran both her hand and the tips of her scourge wings over it. A vocal giggle escaped her lips. The last time she had made such a sound, Artanis had been preoccupied with how exceedingly hideous she was. This time he was focusing on his psi-blade's Khaydarin crystal, and so he bore witness as it began to glow a vibrant pink.

How very, very curious…

* * *

As the evening came to a close, Danial eventually put Sasha to bed on the bunk above his. He fluffed up her pillow and tucked her in, and smiled at the baffled look she gave him. "Sleep well," he told her, and he gave her shattered nerve endings a gentle stroke. Then he stepped back from the bunk bed, and sat down to exam his new gauss rifle. Every once in awhile, he'd look up at Sasha's bunk and go over the events of the day again in his mind.

Eventually he just laid back and closed his eyes, trying to get some sleep. Still, every time he could feel himself drifting off, the nightmares seemed to grab at him, and he'd jerk awake. Cuddling his rifle did nothing to assuage the feelings this time- his _real_ gauss carbine was still in the protoss stargate, with the ghosts…

Sasha peeked over the side of her bunk and looked down at him. Danial blinked and turned his gaze to her. His brows furrowed when he realized that all her zerg features were crystal clear and distinct. Her fangs, wings, and even a light coating of carapace were all visible in the dim light of the bedroom. "Sasha? What's wrong?" he asked. "Can't sleep?"

The little girl tilted her head to the side and then scuttled underneath the top bunk, clinging to its backboard like some sort of spider. Then she suddenly released the backboard, spun herself over in midair, and landed skillfully upon his chest. He gave a little 'oof!' and then looked at her with a smile.

"Oh, I see. Comfortable?" Sasha looked at him and fanned out her wing-like dorsal spines. After a moment, she tilted her head to the side, perhaps confused by his lack of fear. Danial tilted his head to the side as well, matching her. At this, the little girl giggled, and then curled up against his chest.

When Bree returned back to the bedroom, she found Danial fast asleep. The marine was still wearing most of his under armor, and had neglected to take off his boots. Nestled within his arms was his freakish protossian ward. A mouth had formed upon her face. Zerg-like fangs were closed gently around one of Danial's fingers, in an infantile manner. Small, hooked wings were draped over his chest. As Bree watched, Sasha opened her eyes and stared in her direction. There was nothing outright hostile about the child's gaze, but a chill swept over Bree and made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

"Yeah…" the mechanic said slowly, and began backing out of the room. "I think I'll just sleep in the ship tonight. Good idea, Sasha."

The little girl blinked almost curiously, and tilted her head to the side. After a moment, she seemed to lose interest in the frightened mechanic, closed her eyes, and nestled back against Danial's chest.

Danial just snored peacefully. Bree shook her head, and then quickly left the room, shut the door, and headed back to the valkyrie frigate. There was no way in hell she was going to get eaten by a freaky little protoss-zerg-ghost-thingy in her sleep. Besides, Valk had some good horror vids uploaded to the frigate's computer, and Bree had a hidden stash of popcorn in the back of the cargo bay. It was time for an all-night movie marathon.

Danial didn't dream again that night. When he woke up, he found that Sasha had reverted to her fully protoss self. Her skin was pale and white again, her face smooth and unblemished. Those haunting black eyes were closed, and she looked like a normal, harmless child.

He smiled and tried to worm out of bed without disturbing her. His efforts were in vain, and her eyes opened the second he began to move. He smiled at her. "Good morning." She watched him with her strange black eyes, and did nothing else, so he stretched his arms above his head and cracked his back. Then he yawned a few times and sat back on the bed, rubbing his eyes.

Sasha observed this and then mimicked him, rubbing her own face. The marine stopped what he was doing and looked at her, raising an eyebrow. Again, Sasha mimicked him, and lifted a hairless brow. He smiled and lifted a hand to rub her nerve endings. "What do you say we go get some breakfast?" he asked her, and then paused and frowned.

Breakfast. In order to get a meal, he'd have to carry Sasha out in the open again- hell he'd have to bring her straight to the salvage base's mess room. People were going to see her. Bree's warning came back to him.

On the other hand, what else could he do? He had to eat, he had to eventually get to the valkyrie frigate, and he sure as hell was not going to leave Sasha alone.

Come to think of it, he had to pee. …That was gonna be a hell of a problem. Was he supposed to bring her into the men's room with him while he had to do his business? Maybe he could just cover her eyes… He certainly couldn't leave her standing out in the hallway by her lonesome. The more he thought about the absurdity of such a situation, the more he found himself smiling at what the other marines in the bathroom would think.

He'd just have to let today slide. He'd carry her around today, and then he'd just have to…

Well, he didn't know what he'd have to do to keep Sasha safe and hidden, but he'd think of something.

After a moment he realized that Sasha was gnawing hungrily on his under armor. He blinked a few times and then smiled and picked her up, staring to head out of the room. "Right. Breakfast. Just lemme stop at the restroom, okay?" Sasha didn't answer. Instead, she bit off a chunk of his carbon fiber under armor and began chewing upon it as if it were hard taffy. "…Right… Well… If it holds you over until breakfast, I guess I can't complain…"

After Sasha had scared every last marine out of the mens' restroom, Danial headed for the mess hall. He dropped off his plate from the day before, and retrieved a new one under the bewildered stares of his fellow salvagers. The cooks piled his plate high with 'enhanced' meat and synthetic eggs. They then informed him that he was not allowed to bring the plates out of the mess hall, and that next time he did it, he'd be reported.

At this point, it occurred to Danial that the logical thing to do would have been to leave the mess room, grab a bag, put the food inside the bag, take the bag up to his room, and feed Sasha away from the public eye. He looked down at the little girl.

"What do you think? Should I go get a box, or something?" Sasha looked up at him. The expression on her face promised that Danial would end up on the menu if he abandoned that processed bacon for even a second. Danial winced but nodded. "Yeah, I thought you'd think that. Alright then, let's find a table…"

* * *

YARGGG! Review! And hopefully I'll get up the next chapter soon!


	8. The Little Things

Hey everyone! Another chapter, and woohoo! It's come out nice and quick! I'm just going to let everyone know that I updated an earlier chapter just a few days ago, just in case you haven't read it yet. I'm sorry it took me so long to get up and writing again, but what with school, and summer laziness, well, I'm sure you know how it goes ;)

By the way, I'm looking for a good Beta. I was hoping Hawki would be around, but I haven't seen him lately .

This chapter introduces another character . Give him a chance, he's got his reasons for how he acts.

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**_The Little Things_**

Aiur, Crashed Science Vessel

The ugly little hybrid girl was quiet enamored with Artanis's gauntlet

The ugly little hybrid girl was quiet enamored with Artanis's gauntlet. Its golden colored plating fascinated her, and she ran her fingers repeatedly over its curves and edges. Given that she was part protoss, and protoss found such features aesthetically pleasing, it was no wonder she was amazed by the gauntlet; After all, she had probably never seen anything of protossian make before.

Artanis sighed and rubbed one of his temples.

_I am admitting that it thinks like a protoss? That is a stretch._

_She, _he corrected himself. _Or, no… It, _he re-corrected, upon realizing that he was treating the hybrid like a little girl.

_But she _is_ a little girl._

For an alien used to seeing the world in terms of black and white, this whole matter was very gray and unsettling… The praetor gave a mental grimace and looked back at the tiny hybrid. She had turned the gauntlet on its side and was feeling over the slit where the psi-blade would emerge from. He found himself a tad concerned that her trills would cause the blade to form and she'd slice her fingers off.

_And now I am concerned for its safety?_

'_She' is a 'her'. _

_It._

_I wouldn't let a human child cut its fingers off with my psiblade._

_I'd let a zerg larva slice itself in half._

_Human. _

_Or… Zerg._

_Why was Tassadar concerned for the safety of humans? Why did he fail to burn the terran worlds?_

_Was it guilt? That he would be killing something innocent and helpless, and that doing so would be wrong?_

_I am just a praetor. I am no Tassadar. I am no Adun or Khas. I have to protect my people. As Fenix did before me._

The little hybrid giggled and suddenly turned her face up to him and gave a huge, hideously ugly smile. Her whole face was lit up with delight, and she practically oozed happiness.

"_Pretty!" _she exclaimed again. _"C-color! Yell-ll-llow!" _and she smiled even more. Artanis stared at her, at a loss for what to do. The child tilted her head to the side at his silence, and then began to pick herself off the ground. Artanis watched her limbs move and was somewhat impressed that she managed to stand without impaling herself on her ultralisk toe-claws. She straightened herself out and pulled her thick tail behind her, and then she hobbled up to him and held out the gauntlet, that he might reclaim it.

Artanis looked at her for a long moment, before finally taking the gauntlet from her tiny fingers. She gave a happy smile and tentatively reached forward to touch his hand, her eyes curious. Against his better judgment, the praetor held still and allowed her to do so.

The little one's skin was smooth and slightly waxen, very much like his own. The claws that tipped her fingers would have unsettled him, but they were butter-soft and left no imprint upon his flesh. Her eyes were bright blue and inquisitive, her touch gentle and naïve. Artanis's gaze turned downward, to where she was examining his fingers. His golden eyes dimmed slightly in coloration.

"_Where did you come from?" _he asked her at last. She blinked and gave a puzzled expression, before at last transmitting him a mental image of one of the stasis cells. Artanis nodded. _"How did you get out?" _Again, another image- this time of a large hybrid going absolutely berserk, tearing through a lab and ripping apart cells left and right. Someone was screaming, something about locking the doors and setting off incinerators.Sirens were going off and a woman was shrieking not very far away. Then there was an image of a ventilation shaft, and darkness.

Once more, Artanis nodded. He was about to ask another question, when she suddenly spoke.

"_Am… Kayrathne!"_

Artanis's eyes shot immediately to her own, and his brows furrowed in confusion. _Kayrath- That's a name. A protoss name, and a very old name, at that! Not something humans would just happen to know of… How could she…?_

"_Who named you?" _he asked mentally.

She blinked and then images flooded into his mind, of a unique stasis cell. Curled up in its depths was no zerg or malign hybrid. Rather, nestled within its metallic clutches was a protoss female. Her nerve endings had been cut short as if by a blade, and strange wires were plugged into them. The female's eyes were tightly closed, and one of her legs seemed to have been ripped from her body. She had been stripped of all clothing, and was naked and exposed to any scientist that might be passing by.

Artanis's eyes narrowed in anger, and the fingers of his unoccupied hand clenched. How _dare_ the humans do such a thing? How _dare_ they seize one of his kind for such blasphemous experiments? Her nerve endings had not been caught in any explosion or Zerg attack. They had been cut off with deliberate precision- probably by the very humans who had captured her. They had taken her from the Khala, and in doing so had prevented her from ever finding it in the afterlife. Their deeds were unforgivable. If it took a century, he would see this unrighteous profanity avenged!

"_Is this woman still alive?" _Artanis asked blackly. The hybrid girl, Kayrathne, blinked and slowly shook her head.

"_H-hot," _she murmured, and then sent him an image of fire and death. The praetor grimaced and nodded, and gave a mental prayer for the unfortunate woman. After a moment, the context of the situation occurred to him, and he looked back at the little girl.

"_She named you?" _he questioned, a puzzled expression forming on his face. The girl smiled and nodded enthusiastically. Artanis's brows furrowed, but he gave a slow nod. When he thought about it, he realized how lonely the woman must have been. Normal protoss were used to having a constant connection to every other member of their species, and with cut nerve endings, she wouldn't have been able to contact the Khala. Furthermore, Kayrathne's mind was cherubic and innocent, and would hardly have conveyed her zerg heritage to the unfortunate protoss woman.

As he thought about this, Kayrathne spoke again. _"Am named… "Kayra" a-and… "Kay," too!" _she said slowly, thoughtfully.

"_Kay,"_ Artanis repeated immediately, as he felt it was a more suiting name. It did not sound like a protoss word, and he had an easier time calling her it. _"Very well. 'Kay'. I am called Artanis."_

"_T…Tanis…?" _she attempted. Artanis briefly wondered how it was possible to mispronounce a mental word, but eventually gave up, as it made his head hurt. That would be something for a Khalai psychologist to figure out.

"_Artanis," _he corrected.

"_Ar… Artanis…" _she 'sounded out' slowly. The praetor nodded and then stood and walked to the entrance of the supply closet. At the very least, he could discover the means by which she was affecting the crystal. He looked around and mentally located two zealots, a templar, and a few Khalai scientists.

"_Meet me at the entrance of the science vessel," _he instructed them._ "I bring something at once repulsive and curious."_

"_Praetor?"_

"_I shall explain when there is time."_

"_Yes, Praetor." _

Artanis turned back to the hybrid child and blinked when he did not immediately see her. The sound of rustling packages drew his attention downward, and he found that she was sitting next to his foot and munching on a rations bar.

"_Kay?"_ he asked. She blinked and looked up at him, food dripping from her drooling mouth. Artanis gave a mental wince, but managed to disregard the unpleasant sight. _"Will you come with me? I want to show you some interesting things."_

She perked up immediately and clambered to her feet. _"Okay!" _she chirped excitedly, the rations bar left forgotten at her feet. Artanis nodded and gestured for her to follow, before starting down the long and winding corridors of the vessel. Kay followed at a loping pace, her eyes curious. After a moment, she reached up and clung to his hand, much after the fashion of a small child.

It took a great deal of effort not to pull away from her in disgust, but his conscience advised him not to. She was, after all, only a child- a child who might be instrumental in bringing her creators to justice, and who's abilities concerning crystal might prove valuable to his people.

* * *

Aiur, Salvage Base, Sasha

Lunch was a fairly tedious affair. Concerned for Sasha's safety, Danial sought to cover the little girl up with the bulk of his arms, so that her zerg traits could not be seen. He was able to hide her zerg jaws in this manner.

Understandably, this did not assuage the curiosity of his peers. To begin with, Danial had a young Protoss in his possession, and to make matters more confusing, he was very obviously feeding her. The vast majority of the mess room was staring at him in one way or another.

Serendipity saved them. Only a few minutes after Danial and Sasha sat down to eat, another unusual being entered the mess hall. The thud of power boots announced his arrival, and upon viewing the mess hall he remarked, _"Such a gloomy atmosphere…"_

Immediately, every human head in the room turned to view the newcomer, in such a unanimous manner that it was almost comical.

Standing in the door of the mess hall was a dark templar. His skin was a dark, slightly purple color, and his eyes glowed a variety of colors, from blue to green. He wore a pair of power boots to improve his speed, but donned no other armor. Instead, he sported a simple loincloth and a tattered cape that concealed his right arm.

When the dark templar realized he was the center of the room's attention his eyes brightened in a sort of smile. _"Greetings!"_ he hailed, all the while emitting an aura of joy and humor. _"I was wondering if one of you upstanding humans could show me to where I might receive some sustenance, as I'm rather famished."_

The humans gave a unanimous blink, and then looked to each other in bewilderment. Confused by this sudden rash of protoss diners, they took a moment to respond. At last, one brave soul piped up, to confirm what he already suspected.

"You mean," he asked, "food?"

The dark templar blinked and nodded. _"Yes, that is what you humans call it, I believe,"_ he answered jokingly. The whole of the mess hall broke out again into silent discussion, before several individuals pointed hesitantly towards the mess hall cooks. The dark templar gave a light bow and thanked them, and without another word he set off across the dead-silent mess hall, to where the food was being served.

"_Hello!" _he greeted the server. _"Could I have a bowl of your fine food?"_

Danial looked at around at the mess hall, and realized that everyone was fixated on the strange dark templar. Seeing this, he quickly tried to finish up his meal. _If I'm lucky, _he thought, _we can get out of here before they notice us again. _He offered a spoonful of food to Sasha, but she, too, seemed preoccupied by the strange protoss. Confused as to whether this meant she was done, Danial hesitated but a moment too long.

"_May I sit here?" _came a protoss voice. Danial froze. He gave a long, slow, mental curse, and hesitantly lifted his head. Sure enough, the Dark Templar was standing right beside him, and pointing to a seat on his left. Everyone was staring at them, wondering what the dark templar would do with his bowl of food, and wondering what a human was doing with a protoss child…

Danial hesitated, torn between bolting headlong out of the mess hall and staying to find out what the hell this dark templar planned to do with a bowl of food. In the end, Sasha made the decision for him by starting to gnaw on his underarmor again, announcing that she wasn't finished eating. When he thought about it, Danial was a lot more worried about upsetting Sasha than he was worried about other protoss discovering her existence.

At last he nodded, and the dark templar gave a delighted smile and sat down.

The mess hall watched in curious anticipation as the dark templar lifted his hand, and held it motionless over the bowl. Then, quite suddenly, the food began to sort of… _evaporate_. It transformed into a shimmering blue mist, which the protoss slowly absorbed.

"_Ah," _he exclaimed, _"quite delicious!"_

Danial looked baffled at him for a moment, and then looked down at Sasha in a manner that clearly asked, 'Hey, why can't you do that?' Sasha responded by opening her mouth, and looked hungrily up at him. The marine sighed, and placed a piece of meat carefully into her waiting jaws.

The dark templar glanced at them, and then made a double take and stared curiously at the white-skinned child. _"Why, hello there… And who might you be?" _he asked her. Sasha blinked and turned her black eyes to the dark templar, staring at him with an unnatural intensity. Slightly unnerved, but more curious than afraid, the dark templar continued speaking. "_My name is Ji'e'toh," _he continued in greeting, and gave a slight bow of his head.

The little girl just stared at him.

Danial cleared his throat, and put a protective arm around the little girl. "Her name's Sasha," he said quietly, and thanked his lucky stars that most of the salvagers were turning back to their meals.

"_Sasha?"_ Ji'e'toh questioned, obviously unfamiliar with the name, but seeming to like it nevertheless. _"A fine name." _Bored with the dark templar, Sasha once more looked up at Danial. Her phantom mouth quickly manifested, and she opened it hungrily. Danial was not quick enough to hide the zerg feature, and so Ji'e'toh blinked, taken aback by the sight of her. He tilted his head to the side, and his eyes narrowed in thought. _"Interesting…"_

Danial grimaced and popped another piece of food into her mouth, and in the same motion he pulled her further against him. "You got a problem with it?" he asked quietly, half glaring at the protoss. Every nerve on his body was suddenly on end, and his muscles tensed, ready for a fight. There was no way in hell he was going to let anyone _touch _the little girl.

Ji'e'toh looked curiously at him, and then shook his head. "No, no," he answered, "I've no problem at all."

The marine settled down a little bit, but continued hiding the child as much as he could. Sasha ate several more mouthfuls, and then yawned and rubbed her face with her arm, a behavior she mimicked from watching Danial earlier that morning. When she next looked up at him her zerg mouth was gone, and she snuggled up against him and closed her eyes. The marine could help but smile, and held her a little closer.

"_Quite something, that girl," _the dark templar murmured softly.

A little too lost in thought to be defensive, Danial answered with a slightly cliché, "yeah, I guess you could say she is…"

"Danial!" Bree's voice came to him from across the mess hall as the blonde mechanic darted in and looked rapidly around for the marine. Danial straightened up at the sound of the name, and looked towards her. Upon seeing who was looking for him, he lifted a hand to wave her over. "Dan- Oh! There you are, among all the hostile glares and eating beside a dark templar," she said dryly. "I should have guessed." The dark templar blinked and emanated a sense of amusement as the mechanic walked over. "Hey, we're heading out!" she informed Danial quickly. "I brought this box, you can eat the rest on the way."

Danial blinked and then smacked his own forehead. She blinked, and tilted her head to the side. "What?"

"Nothing, hold on a sec," he sighed, and he picked up his food and downed the rest of it in one big gulp. "Alright, I'm ready to go," he informed her, and he wiped his face on his sleeve and stood up, cradling Sasha in one of his arms.

"Good!" the mechanic exclaimed, and without further ado she grabbed his arm and tugged him off. Danial was under the impression that Bree did not know her own strength, and his feasr were validated when the mechanic nearly jerked him off his feet, and almost dragged him from the room. Not for the first time, Danial found himself wondering why Bree hadn't become a Marine…

The sharp motion woke Sasha up and she blinked and peered over Danial's shoulder at the dark templar. Unfailing polite, the Ji'e'toh gave a cheerful, _"Goodbye, human!" _and waved as the marine was practically dragged from the room. Sasha tilted her head to the side and then lifted a hand and waved back at him, mimicking.

"Okay, okay, I'm following you!" Danial informed Bree as he attempted to utilize his own two feet as his means of locomotion. Bree just giggled and released his arm.

"So, what's the deal with the protoss showing up at the mess hall?" she asked him curiously. "And sitting next to you, of all things?"

"Hell if I know," the marine answered, and then suddenly froze and slapped his hand over his mouth.

"You keep doing that!" the mechanic gasped. "Hitting yourself in the face! You just did it in the mess hall too. You really ought to stop you know, you could addle your brains…"

Danial gave her an amused and bewildered look, and then shook his head. "It's just, I swore in front of Sasha," he explained. "I don't want her to learn bad words. Right?"

Bree lifted a brow, and planted her hands on her hips. "Danial, the girl doesn't speak. And even if she did, I'm not sure you could protect her from the vocabulary of the salvagers. You might as well teach the words to her ahead of time, just so you can let her know _not_ to say them."

Danial blinked, but figured this made some sense. Still, he tried to resolve himself to keep from swearing around the little girl. "Anyway," the marine continued, "The protoss… I don't know what he was there for. He wanted some food, I guess."

"Well that's weird. But then, he was a dark templar. They're always a little stranger than the normal protoss."

"There are different kinds?" he asked, baffled by this sudden revelation. "How do you tell the difference?"

"Dark templar have short hair," she explained in layman's terms, and left it at that.

In the background, they heard a psionic voice inquire, _"I'm sorry to bother you, but does this place serve any alcoholic beverages?"_

Bree stiffened, and a look of utter incredulity passed over his face. "Change of plans," she said. "You go back to the ship and tell Valk I'm going to be late."

"What? Why?" he asked, baffled.

"I gotta meet this fellow," she answered, and she turned and headed back for the mess hall.

* * *

Ji'e'toh is a mess all his own ;) And yes, he's the new main character.


	9. Overreaction

Edit: Hey guys, I posted the chapter and then realized I'd left out a vital part, so I took it down and reposted.

Wow, I'm on a roll! Here's another chapter, my lovelies!

* * *

Overreaction

* * *

Aiur, Crashed Science Vessel, Artanis

When Artanis stepped out of the Science Vessel, his men were waiting for them. Immediately a rush of revulsion reached him, as their eyes focused on the hideous hybrid at his side. Oblivious to their disgust, Kay stared in amazement at all the protoss. _"P-pretty…"_ she mumbled happily.

"_This hybrid is to be brought back, alive, to Shakuras," Artanis explained. "Its memory reaches back far enough to be useful in our investigation of this science vessel. Conduct a full examination of it before placing it in stasis. It is intelligent enough to follow simple commands, and has yet to show signs of aggression."_

The protoss nodded, placing aside their disgust in order to do their jobs. The zealots moved first, ascending the ramp of the science vessel to retrieve the little hybrid. Kay blinked in wonder up at him, marveling at their golden armor. Artanis gently pulled his hand free of hers and propelled her foreword. The two encircled her, and the one in front gestured to her. _"Follow," _he instructed tersely, and he turned to lead her down the ramp. Kay tilted her head to the side, but saw no reason not to do as she was asked, and so she hopped down the ramp after him. Artanis followed, and quickly headed off to oversee the mining operations

Something occurred to Kay at the bottom of the ramp however, and she turned back to the science vessel. The zealot behind her responded immediately and activated both of his psiblades, holding the weapons at ready. Kay jumped and stared at them with wide eyes, taking a few steps back from the imposing protoss. _"Follow him," _the zealot advised darkly, and he gestured to his fellow warrior. Artanis slowed as he heard the weapons come on, recalling Kay's last experience with psiblades.

"_Bu-but- I forgot-" _she stuttered, surprising her handlers with her ability to speak.

"_Follow," _the zealot responded, his yellow eyes narrowing.

"_But I can't leave without-"_

"_Follow. Him," _the protoss growled, advancing a step on her. Any normal creature would have taken it as a warning to obey or be hauled manually to their final destination. To Kay, who desperately needed to get back to the science vessel, it was just the sign of a mean person. Her twisted mouth moved into a frown, and her blue eyes evidenced her confusion.

"_I need-" _At her apparent refusal to obey, the front zealot grabbed her arm, and started to drag her. Kay's eyes widened in surprise, and she dug her feet into the ground. She momentarily stopped the zealot's forward movement, much to his surprise, and he glared back at her and jerked her painfully forward. She gave a vocal exclamation of surprise, and perhaps pain, stumbling to her knees.

"_Move," _he instructed.

"_No! Let go, Let me go!" _she cried, trying to get her mismatched feet beneath her and failing miserably. Two hundred feet away, Artanis halted, and looked back at them. He had not intended for the zealots to be so rough with Kay; not when she had behaved so well on their trip through the science vessel. _"No!" _she yelled again, digging her toes into the ground. The zealot jerked her forward. She struggled for a moment and then bit into his hand.

The Zealot's response was instant. He whipped around and struck her with the side of his gauntlet, aiming to knock her out. At around that same point in time, Kay tripped trying to get her legs under her, and fell. The blow clipped her head, causing her to squeal in pain and rip backwards from the zealot, tearing her arm free of his grasp. _"NO!" _

The blades of the zealot vanished, much to their confusion, and for a moment it looked like the high templar was experiencing vertigo. Artanis frowned, turning back to them and staring to walk in their direction. This was not how he had hoped things would go. The little girl ran out from between the two zealots, even as they grabbed for her. She stumbled desperately away, tripped on her unwieldy tail, and flailed madly, kicking at them when they grabbed at her.

The high templar frowned and stepped forward, gathering a ball of energy before him. He manipulated it for a moment, ensuring that it would not permanently hurt the hybrid, and then sent it forward in a rush. The psionic orb smashed into Kay, flaying at her mind wide open and setting her senses on fire, scrambling everything into mush, and yet _failing_ to knock her out. Her blue eyes went wide, her limbs clenching up against her and her spine contorting as psionic shocks danced down her deformed nerve endings. Her jaws parted as wide as her half-formed mouth would allow and she _screamed_. A wave of energy seemed to pulsate out from her, echoed by the shattered Khaydarin crystals on which the science vessel rested. They seemed to resonate with the sound, all color draining from them and leaving them an ominous, cold black. The high templar gasped and stumbled backwards, clutching at a Khaydarin amulet he wore upon his forehead. His eyes flickered black and he promptly collapsed in a heap on the ground. The zealots jumped back from her as if stung, working frantically to pull their gauntlets off, as if the weapons were somehow burning them. Artanis gasped, feeling his own psionic energies draining out into his gauntlets, and he frantically worked to tear them off and discard them.

Kay jerked and trembled, heaved for breath, and them screamed again, tears trickling down her cheeks and sobs shaking through her chest. Artanis stared back at her, his eyes wide in amazement.

_She's hurt,_ a part of his mind decided to inform him. _She's screaming because she's hurt. _He dropped his gauntlets to the ground and then quickly moved back in her direction. The crystal around them glowered almost angrily, sapping at the very air around it.

"_Kay!"_

She could not hear him. She was lost in a fog of anguish. He reached her side at a rapid pace and he quickly knelt and reached down to grab her under the shoulders. At his touch she began thrashing, trying to injure him with her claws and dorsal spine. He grimaced and grabbed her around the middle, pulling her against him and holding her dorsal spine out to the side. Nearby, the high templar was twitching spasmodically at the ground, clutching at his Khaydarin amulet.

Quickly Artanis touched his forehead to her nerve endings, and his mind dove into hers. Waves of agony rushed around him, but he countered by sending calming, soothing thoughts to her, and quickly began to knit closed her mental wounds. She choked and wailed pitifully, her arm wrapping convulsively around his, clinging to him. Around them, the black crystals slowly faded to gray, inert but no longer draining. The high templar fell still, exhausted and drained, and Artanis sighed in relief. _"Kay." _

She jerked at the sound of her name, tilting her head back to look up at him with those white-blue eyes. Her ugly lips curled downward, and her jaw shook, as her cries dissolved into whimpers. _"H-h-hurrttt!" _she mumbled unhappily, and more tears spilled down her puffy cheeks.

"_I am sorry, small one," _he answered honestly. _"I did not mean for you to be treated so roughly. You shall not be harmed further." _She sniffled and swallowed hard, but slowly began to calm, soothed by the tone of his voice. Around him, the Khaydarin crystals altered in response to her noises, and eventually returned to a healthy, blue-white hue.

"_Praetor?"_ one of the zealots asked hesitantly. Artanis lifted his head, and noticed for the first time that the whole of his salvage team was staring at the little child in his arms, their eyes wide and disbelieving. He was taken aback for a moment, before recalling that he was their leader, and so needed to bring some order to the confused salvagers.

"_Get this high templar immediate medical attention. He seems to be suffering from an energy drain, but I want to make sure no permanent damage has been done."_

"_Yes Praetor," _the zealots answered in unison, glad to be given a straightforward task. Both moved forward immediately, scooped the fallen templar off the ground, and carried him back through their fellows. _"The rest of you, return to your duties." _

"_Head hurts…" _Kay whimpered, lifting her scourge wings to touch a violet bruise upon her forehead. Artanis regarded the bruise, and took stock of her other injuries. He nodded and carefully arranged his arms around her and picked her off the ground, situating her ungainly limbs. She gave a small cry of surprise and grabbed reflexively onto his arm, before she realized what he was doing and calmed down.

"_I forgot, inside," _she mumbled. _"A-am-… am-u-let." _ Artanis stared down at her, surprised and dismayed.

"_That is what you were trying to tell the zealots?" _he asked. She blinked in puzzlement at him, not understanding the word 'zealot'. Realizing this, he sent her an image of the armored warriors. She tilted her head to the side and then nodded, wiping tears from her face. Artanis looked at her for a long moment, and then shook his head at his own foolishness. He'd been far too eager to leave Kay behind him, and now was suffering the consequences.

"_I understand," _he promised her._ When you are feeling better, you may go and retrieve this amulet. For now, I am going to bring you to a place where you can rest safely." _

"_But- Okay…"_

He nodded, and stood up, supporting the malformed creature carefully in his arms. For a moment, he was worried as to how he was going to explain this creature to his superiors. Only then did it occur to him, only at that very moment, after so much fighting and so much death- only then did he realize that he no longer _had_ any superiors. The thought caused his recessive stomach to leap, and his skin to pale.

_I'm too young for this…_

* * *

Aiur, Salvage Base, Sasha

Danial carried Sasha back to Valk's cargo frigate, all the while wondering if 'cargo frigate' was a legitimate label for a ship. Personally, he didn't know much about ship types; Battlecruisers were big, frigates were small, fighters fought, and cargo ships held cargo. Still, he was sure that there had to be a better name for their mismatched Valkyrie. Perhaps he'd ask Valk about it later.

In any event, he did eventually reach the ship.

Valk glanced back at him and sighed. "Did Bree get distracted by somevzing shiny?"

Danial blinked and shook his head. "Er, no. She got distracted by a protoss- a dark templar," he added, proudly displaying his newfound knowledge. "He was asking questions about alcohol."

The Valkyrie pilot lifted a brow, and then gave a dismissive wave of her hand and turned away with a derisive, "Bah!"

Danial smiled lightly and then sat down in the back of the cargo bay and sat Sasha down in his lap, and drummed his fingers on his knee. Several minutes passed during which Bree did not return and Valk offered no conversation. Bored and a little jittery, he carefully picked up one of Sasha's hands, and examined her fingers. The little girl looked curiously up at him, but didn't protest his actions.

"Oh!" he said, surprised by what he found. "You have two thumbs!" She tilted her head to the side and he smiled, showing her one of his hands. "You know. These fingers?" he wiggled his thumb, and then touched hers. "I only have one on each hand, but you have two."

Seemingly as perplexed by this as he was, Sasha seized Danial's hand in hers and began manipulating his fingers. His pinky finger was of great interest to her, and she looked back and forward between his hand and hers, trying to analyze the differences. Danial just let her do as she pleased, a content expression on his face. As he sat there, however, a sense of unease began to grow in the back of the mind; the feeling that he was forgetting or overlooking a very important detail.

Sasha moved slightly, tilting her head back and forward to get a better look at his hand. Her nerve endings clicked softly against one another, and her eyes blinked slowly. Something was wrong… something he couldn't put his finger on… He looked around for some explanation concerning this uneasy feeling. The cargo bay lights seemed unnaturally bright, so he looked up at them, and then back at Sasha.

Danial frowned and then stiffened and took in a sharp breath, his eyes widening in surprise. Sasha's shadow was missing.

A harsh, piercing scream tore through the salvage base, a zerg scream. Danial jumped and stared at the cargo bay door, his eyes wide. "The hell?" he gasped as his heart thundered madly within his chest. He looked back down at Sasha and then stiffened again. His lap was empty. The little protoss girl was gone. He stared at where she had been for the longest moment, and then suddenly bolted out of his seat and tore around the cargo chamber, frantically searching every nook and cranny. "Sasha! Sasha, where are you? _Sasha! _Shit!"

Another scream ripped through the salvage base, and Danial nearly fell over. "Shit! Valk, can't you hear that?" he gasped, looking to her pilot seat. She did not answer. He blinked and swallowed hard. "Valk?" he asked slowly. Nothing; nothing save the sound of pained, labored breathing.

Danial sucked in a breath, and carefully pulled out one of his side arms. Step by step, he approached the pilot's seat, and then carefully stepped into the cockpit. A broken and infested creature gazed up at him from the seat. Its legs were missing, and its arms were bound to the piloting controls by long ropes of flesh. Tufts of black hair curled around its scarred face, and its eyes looked up at him like two blood-red cherries.

Danial paled. "… Valk…" he murmured.

Her flight suit and helmet were covered in zerg flesh, and her mouth was concealed behind a pulsing air mask. Her body was glued to her chair by thick masses of oozing, quivering skin. She did not speak or make any other sounds aside from that heavy breathing.

Danial swore and turned away for a moment, before looking back at her. He glanced at his sidearm, and then shook his head and reached towards the unfortunate pilot. His fingers brushed over her face, near her eye and over her hair. "I'm not going to hurt you," he whispered with all sincerity. "I don't know what's going on, but I'll get to the bottom of it as fast as I can. I dunno what I'm going to do about Bree though," he reflected, a weak attempt at a joke. "She's scary enough as a human…"

The infested pilot did not respond, just stared at him. Danial grimaced and shook his head, before backing out of the cockpit and looking around. "Sasha…" He took in a deep breath, steeled himself against whatever he might find, and then headed for the cargo bay doors and flung them open.

The dock was deserted. Surprised and ill at ease, the marine stepped out of the frigate and onto the steel floor. He put his side arm away and pulled his gauss rifle from his shoulder. Valk had been relatively harmless, but a normal infested human would need to be taken down- and quickly. Danial walked some distance from the frigate and then paused and looked around. "Sasha?" he asked the empty room.

A droplet of something landed on his face. He started in surprise and then wiped the droplet off and looked at his hand. His fingers were stained red. Another droplet landed upon him, this time on his arm. Red. More and more began to fall, adding to the sinking feeling in the pit of Danial's stomach. Slowly the marine tilted his head back, looking up at the high ceiling of the docks. There, a hundred feet above him, the inhabitants of the salvage base were pasted to the ceiling with hydralisk spikes and zerg creep. Their eyes stared down at him, all open, all red. Their faces were drawn with pain and agony, and the vast majority of them were still alive. Blood oozed from their torn corpses and pattered down on the ground before, faster and faster, until it was literally raining blood.

Danial gave a cry of dismay and covered his head with his gauss rifle, trying to get out from under the red downpour. Images flashed through his mind, of his friends, his comrades, dead, everything dead, everything butchered, everything- Nightmares shot through his waking mind, torturing him, tearing at his insides. The bodies began to fall, slowly, one at a time. They slipped from their restrains, and hit the ground with dull, fleshy thuds. He headed blindly for a hallway branching off the docks. Corpses fell around him. Thudsquish. Thudsquish. The blood splashed, and licked his boots. Limbs flailed, snap, crunch. He could see their faces, their eyes, could see how they struggled to breathe under the suffocating blanket of red. He could see, in his dreams, his fellows as they fell beneathe zerglings and hydralisks, could see one suffocating from a puncture blow to the lung, could see another eviscerated, one half eaten-. He reached the hallway and stumbled into it, gasping for air and trying to block out the noises of the fallen. Blood oozed across the floor, at least an inch deep, a veritable river. Danial shuddered. He steadied himself against a wall for a moment and then began frantically wiping blood from his hair, face, shoulders- everywhere. His arms trembled and he took in a frayed breath. "Sasha…" he whispered. "What the _hell_ is going on?"

Something was nearing him. He could hear its feet swishing through the thick blood- blood that was now at least three inches deep. It came closer, and closer, till he could feel the ripples brushing against his feet. Still shaking, Danial slowly lifted his head. Standing just a foot away was the dark templar male, Ji'e'toh. His appearance had changed dramatically. His eyes were a glassy black, and great, fanged mouth split his face wide open. Elegant carapace trailed down his body, and spikes and blades burst out from his flesh at every angle. Dorsal spines jutted out from his back, just like Sasha's, and hung motionless behind him.

Danial just stared, at those fanged maws that hovered so very near, at those sharp claws and natural arm blades. Even the monster's feet were distinctly zerg, and a tail slashed around in the air behind him, casting-

No shadows. The monster had no shadow. Danial's gaze shot up to his face in surprise, and Ji'e'toh gave a slow, feral grin, his jaws opening wide. Blades lifted; muscled tensed. The marine's hands tightened on his gauss rifle. He contemplated taking a step backwards, but realized the futility of such an action. His pointer finger pressed gently against the trigger of his weapon, but then went slack.

The gauss rifled tumbled from his grip, and he took a hesitant step towards the monster, lifting a hand. His brows furrowed in confusion, but those eyes… those black eyes… "Sasha?" Danial asked slowly. Ji'e'toh paused and eyed them, his alien muscles still tense and ready to pounce. Danial swallowed dryly. "You're her. You're her shadow. You're not that dark templar, you're Sasha…"

The male protoss- and he was defiantly male- did not strike, staring almost curiously at Danial.

The marine reached forward slowly, touching the alien's smooth cheek, trying to understand what was going on. "Sasha… What's wrong?" The black eyes closed momentarily, and then opened again. "Why's everyone dead? Why do you look like the dark templar? What's wrong?"

The black eyes narrowed. With a zerg shriek, Ji'e'toh leapt at him, claws leading, teeth gnashing. Danial cried out and then screamed as one of the protoss's hands went straight through his under armor, busting his ribs and puncturing into his chest cavity. A natural wristblade activated, sending a blade into his spine and severing it. His bowels and bladder emptied themselves, and sharp teeth closed over his throat.

Everything went black.

Little hands manipulated his fingers. A weight was on his lap, and a Russian voice was making observations on the weather. Danial's vision slowly faded back to him, and he found himself in the modified Valkyrie's cargo bay. Sasha was sitting in his lap, still examining his hand. Her shadow had returned. Valk was talking to him, and to herself- something about a storm coming, and needing to get out and back in before it hit…

Sasha paused in her examination, and then slowly looked up at Danial. Her mouth had manifested, dark black, smiling, and filled with needlepoint fangs. Danial stared at her, and then shuddered and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against his chest and stroking over her nerve endings. The fanged mouth vanished and Sasha stared at him in bewilderment, her black eyes wide. After a moment, she leaned her cheek into his shoulder and nuzzled lightly against the rough fabric of his under armor.

He noticed this reaction and gave a sigh of relief. "Sasha, you scared the… the… erm… poop out of me," he murmured. "Literally. Did I do something wrong? Are you mad at me?"

She didn't move, just rested there, snuggled against him.

"No? Oh. Um… Well… I don't mean to be offensive… But next time you're not angry at me… could you be gentler about it? I'm wee bit fragile." Nothing. No response.

Danial sighed and cuddled her gently. "Well… If you're not mad at me… Maybe you were trying to tell me something?" He smiled down at her. "If that's the case, I think I need to teach you sign language."

Valk looked back at them from the cockpit and lifted a brow at what Danial was saying. He spoke as if some monumental event had just happened, yet Valk was certain he had never left the cargo bay. She hesitated for a moment, and then stiffened and clenched her jaws.

Danial's boots were coated in fresh, red blood.

* * *

_**YARRGG!**_

Review or I shall not update! Or, at least, that's what I tell myself on those cold lonely nights when I think everyone's lost interest in my fanfiction...


	10. Revelations

I TOLD YOU I WASNT DEAD! BWAHAHAHAHAH!

* * *

**_Revelations_**

* * *

Aiur, Salvage Base

The salvaging community was not so much a military base as a loose collection of mercenaries, protoss sympathizers, Arcturus Mengsk haters, and drifters who had nothing better to do and nowhere better to go. Oh, the soldiers who wore combat armor were still called marines (or firebats), but the base didn't have much of a military hierarchy. This was a temporary state of course, and someone would eventually impose order on the inhabitants, but for the moment the base was held together by bubblegum and paperclips. And capitalism.

To be frank, Bree sort of liked it that way. Even without getting philosophical, she knew there was something about freelance operations that just made them… better.

That 'something' was affectionately referred to as 'beer'. Or 'ale'. Bree typically preferred the word 'ale', possibly due to the fact that her linage traced back to old Scotland. Not that she wasn't against a good lager now and then, but- Well, anyway, it seemed that there was at least one protoss in the world who shared her views.

Since the entire cafeteria was focused on Ji'e'toh's alcohol consumption, Bree decided to wait for the Dark Templar to leave, that she might talk with him in private. She didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later, an exceptionally inebriated dark templar stumbled out the cafeteria's doors and nearly bowled her over in the process. _"Thank you, humans!" _he called happily. _"You've been very helpful!" _Ji'e'toh lifted a foot to step forward, lost his balance, and fell into a nearby wall. He gave a mental laugh, and tried to push himself upright. Bree's jaw dropped.

"Are you… drunk?" she asked slowly.

"_What?"_ The dark templar gasped, still facing the wall and still trying to push himself upright. "No! No, no… Well, maybe." He finally managed to stand upright, and held his hand out for balance. Bree lifted a brow. _"And who says I cannot be drunk, anyway?"_ he asked after a moment.

"Well, why would you want to be drunk?" the mechanic inquired. "I thought protoss were all above that, or… something."

"_I dunno,"_ he slurred mentally. _"I guess it's for the constant buzzing sound, or maybe I just like feeling like a cloud…"_

Bree blinked quizzically, and then laughed. "Wow. You're a lightweight, aren't you?"

After finally locating the mechanic, Ji'e'toh turned to face her and smiled. _"Maybe." _He laughed, and lost his balance again. Bree blinked and jumped forward to catch him by the shoulder and keep him from falling. He lurched and then steadied himself, and shot a brilliant mental smile her way.

Bree couldn't help but return it with a physical smile of her own. "Where are you going?" she asked him "I'll accompany you. And keep you from falling over."

"_Hmm, I was gonna head back to my ship…" _he mused.

"Gasp. I just heard a protoss slur words together. I never thought I'd see the day!"

Ji'e'toh laughed again. _"Judgment day is upon you, human! Use your remaining time wisely!"_

Bree smiled, and started to lead him towards the docks. "Did you just fly in recently? I haven't seen you before," she asked curiously.

"_I did. I came back from a mission, and decided I would celebrate with a victory meal and drink!" _He giggled and nearly tripped on his own legs.

Bree caught him and grinned.

"You'd think a race with such phenomenal constitution could hold their alcohol a little better."

"_I can't hold me ale!"_

She broke out laughing.

* * *

(Cont.)

Danial held Sasha for quite some time, stroking over her nerve endings and even placing a rough kiss on her scarred cheek. The little girl seemed to like this attention. She was curled up against his underarmor, and her black eyes were closed. The expression on her face was calm and peaceful. Danial breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm not sure what you were trying to tell me," the marine confessed after a long moment, "but I'll do my best to figure it out, okay?" He gently stroked her face, and then began to rock her back and forward.

Sasha lifted a hand to his clothing, and clutched it tightly in her little fingers. _Mine. _Danial smiled at the gesture and mimicked it. This seemed to please Sasha, who gave him something akin to a smile.

"_I saw three ships come sailing in, on Christmas day, on Christmas day!"_

Sasha's eyes narrowed, her fingers lengthening into claws. Danial swore and held Sasha closer to him. His fingers ran soothing over her nerve endings and back, and he placed several kisses on her forehead. He glanced frequently at her shadow, each time expecting that it would be gone, each time dreading the possibility. That last thing he wanted was for her to throw a fit.

"It's okay," Danial whispered to her, "I'll figure it out. I promised you I'll figure it out. Please don't hurt anyone, I'll figure it out." Few protoss would walk around drunkenly broadcasting the lyrics to Christmas songs from the confines of their heads. Danial had a sneaking suspicion that Ji'e'toh was one of them. Ji'e'toh, the reason for that _terrible_ vision Sasha had sent him.

"_I saw three- hic- ships come sailing in on Christmas day in the morning!"_

"Vhat za hell?" Valk inquired to the air, opening her cockpit and peering out curiously. She laid eyes on Bree, who was helping a stumbling Ji'e'toh towards their ship. "Bree?"

"Heya Valky!" the buxom blonde responded, a large smile spreading over her face. "My inebriated companion has become incapable of finding his ship. Can he stay with us till he recovers?"

Ji'e'toh caught sight of the Russian-descended pilot and gave a hearty wave. _"Hello, Madam! I'm sorry if I might cause you any inconvenience… But- Ah!" _He tripped and fell face first into the Valkyrie frigate, and then burst out laughing. Valk's jaw dropped, and she stared at the drunken protoss, absolutely baffled. She looked from him, to Bree, and then back again.

"Come on Valky! Can we keep him? Pleaasee?"

"_Should I be wagging my tail?"_

"Oh, shush! Plleasse, Valky?"

Valk heaved a great sigh and put a hand over her face. "Vhatever. Guess ve vont be going out before zhat storm," she grunted out, and she pressed a button to open the cargo bay's doors. Danial winced at her answer, and then looked back at Sasha.

"It's okay. I'll figure it out," he assured her. "I'll figure it out." Her claws kneaded his under armor for a moment more, before slowly starting to recede. Her fingers became soft and protoss again, and she pressed her cheek into his chest. Danial let out a breath in relief, and cradled the little girl. "I promise, Sasha. I promise."

"Hey Danial!" Bree's voice greeted blithely. "I brought your friend from the mess hall!"

"_Oh! Hello, there! I remember you. And little Sasha… Isn't she darling?"_

Sasha frowned. "It's okay," Danial whispered to her, and then he lifted his head, to look at the newcomer protoss.

To be honest, he didn't look all that intimidating. His eyes were dark purple (although Danial would have sworn they were blue earlier), and he was stumbling all over the place and giggling. In fact, Ji'e'toh wasn't acting much like a protoss at all- more like a silly human teenager after their first experience with alcohol. Bree helped him through the Cargo Bay and sat him down on a bench.

"_Thank you," _he said, still emanating a mental smile. "_I'm sorry for being a burden."_

"Oh no, it's no problem at all," she responded gleefully. "I'm enjoying the drunken protossness too much for an apology to be necessary. This is a story I'll be telling to my grandchildren."

"_Then I am happy to supply you with such a story," _he answered solemnly.

Danial regarded the strange protoss, trying to figure out what Sasha had been trying to say about him. It almost seemed like she'd been given a warning, that the protoss was untrustworthy or dangerous- a rather difficult thing to see when he was so obviously drunk.

It was true, Ji'e'toh was armed- but then all protoss were. He carried at least one psi blade, or warp blade, or whatever they were called. Danial blinked. At least one. The marine couldn't see one of Ji'e'toh's arms, and, come to think of it, hadn't yet caught a glimpse of it. Ji'e'toh wore very little, but one distinctive part of his garb was a cape slung over his right shoulder, a cape that concealed his right arm. Ji'e'toh had carried his food with his left arm, turned it to mist with his left hand, waved Danial farewell with his left arm, and had been supported by Bree on his left side. Even when he went to sit down on the bench, he had used his left hand to steady himself. He hadn't so much as twitched his right arm since Danial had met him (Although that was, admittedly, a very short period of time).

Suddenly curious, and hoping he might stumble upon Sasha's meaning, Danial decided to ask the protoss about it. "Um, so…" he began hesitantly, uncertain how to bring up the issue. Ji'e'toh could have been crippled in battle, or lost his arm to a zergling, or something, and Danial would sound like an ass for bringing up the loss of his arm. Still, the marine had to try something. "Your right arm… uh, you cover it, and I haven't seen you use it… What's up?"

Very eloquent. Danial inwardly praised himself for being able to come up with those words. Not many people could have asked a seven foot, armed, drunk alien about something so insensitive.

Ji'e'toh blinked, his violet eyes turning green and focusing on Danial. Danial blinked, glanced from Sasha to his gauss rifle, and then held the protoss child closer. He figured she was the more dangerous of the two. Ji'e'toh also looked down at Sasha, noting the claws that were forming and fading upon her fingers and toes, and the phantom mouth that split wide her face.

"_Hmm. Yes. That." _Ji'e'toh's voice held no warmth, none of his earlier silliness; he sounded completely sober.After a moment of thought, the Dark templar lifted his left arm to his right shoulder, and carefully peeled back his cape.

Beneath the cape was his right arm, covered in scales, spikes, and carapace. The fingers had turned into thick, sickle-like claws, and a puckered slit ran horizontally across his palm. As a stunned Danial and Bree watched, the slit opened, and a long, barbed tentacle pushed its way out. It slithered around two feet into the air, writhed around, and then retracted with a slurping noise.

"_Does that answer your question?" _the infested protoss asked gently.

Danial blinked at the limb several times, and then looked back at Ji'e'toh's face. "Yeah, um, that pretty much covers it."

* * *

Aiur, Crashed Science Vessel,

Kay was exceptionally well-behaved while Khalai scientists and medics examined her. Her Zerg regeneration was already repairing her wounds, but they gave her some ice for her forehead and bandaged up some of her cuts. Although she repulsed them, they also found her very fascinating. When they realized she was fairly intelligent, they began asking her questions about any injuries she'd sustained, and about the science vessel and whatnot.

Artanis watched all of this quietly, a pensive look in his eyes. Kay had displayed an amazing and unprecedented ability. He had the feeling he'd stumbled upon something profound and important. If the protoss could study Kay, and learn how she had used the crystals, they might uncover many secrets that could help them fight off their enemies. This ugly, malformed little hybrid girl was now a rare and precious opportunity.

Although he had expected to supervise the mining operation, he now felt that Kay was more important. He needed to make sure she was safe and calm, and he needed to be there in case she threw another fit.

The hideous little girl smiled occasionally at him, and was obviously enjoying the attention. Several times she hinted that she was hungry, so Artanis asked one of the Khalai in the science vessel to bring out some rations and water for her. When the food arrived, Kay began sniffing at the air and her eyes grew large. She gave a happy squeal and squirmed away from the scientists, bounding up to the unfortunate ration-carrier and nearly knocking him over.

"_Hungry, hungry!" _she proclaimed. The Khalai holding the food was quite alarmed by this behavior, and reflexively tried to kick her away. He ended up cutting his foot on one of her clawed toes.

"_Kay!" _Artanis snapped, a bit more sharply than he intended. He hurried up to the Khalai's side and grabbed the little girl's shoulders, pulling her back. _"Kay, calm down. You're unsettling this poor scientist."_

Kay cocked her head to the side and then looked up at Artanis, utterly baffled as to what he meant. The Khalai scientist had not previously seen Kay, and looked quite stricken by her appearance. His mood was not improved by the shallow cut running along his heel.

Artanis squeezed Kay's shoulder gently. _"This is important, Kay. You cannot jump on people just because they have something you want. Stand here, a short distance away. Then apologize and calmly ask if you can have one of the rations bars."_

Kay had no idea why these rituals were necessary to attain her food, but Artanis seemed to find them important. After a moment, she looked back at the Khalai scientist, her white-blue eyes meeting his yellow ones.

"_I'm sorry," _she said. _"May I have some food?" _

The scientist looked uncertainly at Artanis, who nodded. Somewhat reassured, he selected one of the rations bars and offered it to the little girl. She snatched it with unintentional rudeness, gave a coo of delight, and then plopped on the floor and began to munch hungrily.

Artanis sighed. _"Deposit the food upon this table and have your new cut seen to, Khalai. I apologize for any distress she may have caused you; she is part beast, after all." _

Kay was oblivious to the insult. She was making guttural "Mmm" sounds, and was gnawing on the food in her hideous, lopsided fashion. Saliva and bits of food drooled down her chin. Artanis looked down at her and shook his head.

He supposed he'd have to teach her to interact peacefully with protoss. Her first lessons would have to involve her manners. Kay giggled and rolled onto her back, looking up at him and kicking childishly at the air. _"You want some?" _she asked, holding up part of the bar.

"_No thank you, Kay. Unlike you, I do not have a mouth. I do not eat."_

She blinked, and then tilted her head to the side, as if noticing this detail for the first time. She sat up again, turned towards him, and then lifted a hand to her face, feeling over the gnarled teeth and slick tongue, the too-small lips. _"Oh," _she murmured, as if surprised by her own features. _"Why do you I have a mouth and you don't?"_

"_Because we are not the same," _he answered matter-of-factly.

"_Why not?" _she inquired, standing up in her ungainly way.

"_I am a protoss. You are… you are a hybrid."_

This seemed to confuse her, and her brows furrowed in a very human fashion. _"I don't understand."_

"_You do not have to."_

"_I want to!" _she hopped closer to him, and lifted a hand, as if to touch him. Quite suddenly she paused, staring at her arm, at her five fingers, at the lines and shapes that composed the limb. She looked from her arm to his. _"My hand is the same as yours- just the same! See?"_

Artanis frowned with his eyes. _"Yes," _he reflected, but then he reached forward and touched the scourge wings that grew in place of her other arm. _"But _this_ is not the same. You only have one arm."_

Kay blinked and stared at the wings in surprise, and looked between herself and Artanis. The corners of her mouth turned down, and she took a hesitant step backwards. _"Why do I look different?" _she whispered.

Artanis regarded her for a moment and felt some pity stir within him for the unfortunate creature. _"There are many different creatures in this universe, none of which look the same. There are humans, protoss, bengalaas, ragnasaurs, zerg. You are a hybrid, a mixture. You have the same hand as I…"_ he paused, but felt that it was cruel to withhold the truth. _"You have the same hand as I because you are part protoss. You are also part zerg. Everything about you that is not protoss, is likely zerg."_

Kay frowned and touched her scourge wings, feeling over the rubbery material. _"I don't like this," _she said unhappily.

Artanis tilted his head. _"Sadly, young one, there is nothing that can be done about _what_ you look like. We are what we are- some things cannot be changed."_

"_But… but…" _Her shoulders slumped and her eyes lowered. Unfortunately, this gave her a wonderful look at her feet, neither of which was anatomically correct for a protoss. The corners of her mouth sagged even further, and tears built up in her eyes again. _"I'm… I'm ugly."_

The praetor shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and wasn't certain what to say. This was partially because Kay's statement was very true, and partially because she so obviously found protoss beautiful. At last he reached down and gently took her hand. _"Come, do not dwell on this. Are you feeling better?"_

"_No," _she mumbled sullenly.

He blinked. _"Not even well enough to retrieve your amulet?"_

Kay stiffened, and then perked up. She looked up at him, but then her face fell again. _"It is a protoss amulet. I am not protoss."_

Artanis hesitated, but decided it was in his best interest to revitalize Kay's joyful demeanor, so there would be no more crying incidents. The last thing he needed was for her noises to affect a ship's engine while flying back to Shakuras. _"You are part protoss," _he reflected._ "That is close enough. Come, I shall take you to retrieve it." _

She looked at him a moment, but then her face brightened and her fingers tightened around his.

"_Okay! Come, come, I'll show you where I keep my treasures!"_

Disaster averted, Artanis breathed easily and followed the hideous little child. A dozen Khalai scientists stared on in interest and revulsion.

YARRRGG! Review or I will not update! :P

And we find that Ji'e'toh has... layers, to say the least


	11. Infestation

Hey guys! Yay for another chapter! I uploaded a new pic of Sasha and Danial to deviantart, so check it out ;) I also have an older pic her, as well as a rough drawing of Kay. You can access my art through my profile page. It's at deviantart, and my name is Spydrouge.

Today is mostly Sasha, as well as the introduction of a critical plot element who will get things moving ;) Say hi to Crow, everyone!

* * *

_**Infestation**_

* * *

New Feed: Unknown Location, Zerg Hive

The protoss twisted and bucked, straining against the fleshy cords that held him. His eyes were bright white and flickering rapidly, a testimony to the violent seizures going on within his skull. Larva slunk languidly over his tawny flesh, covering him in slime, biting into him, sharing their unholy taint. Organic tubes shuttled zerg blood into his veins and leeched slowly at his own, to the point where his once blue veins were now violet. The red fluid carried with it nutrients, hormones, resources for chemical reactions, and yet still, _still_, there was no sign of compliance or defeat on the proud warrior's face.

His hearts continued to beat at three-times their natural pace, in defiance of all zerg attempts to stop them. His muscles strained and tore themselves with effort, with their sheer defiance. His tattered nerve endings crackled with psionic energy. He could no longer shield himself from the damning voice of the Swarm; it had infiltrated every part of him, whispering to the deepest recesses of his mind, and yet, through all of this, he had not broken.

He strained violently against his bonds, tearing several, keeping his mind in a constant state of hyperactive, unhealthy activity to keep that will, _her_ will, at bay. If this continued, he'd fry his own brain to a crisp, and she would left with nothing more than a useless husk.

Needless to say, the infestation was not going well, and that irritated the Queen of the Blades to no end.

Some part of her- buried deep- was _furious_ that he was lasting longer than she had. Another part was just vexed that she was unable to subvert him. Another, still, had a certain hatred for this particular protoss; For him to die honorably in having resisted her influence, through nothing but sheer willpower, was unacceptable.

She did not notice Samir Duran's smile, and likely wouldn't have cared if she did. Her majordomo frequently grinned, as if finding their existence to be some twisted, morbid, dark comedy. Kerrigan supposed she did so as well- just not so blatantly.

Duran smirked openly at the struggling protoss, and enjoyed his mistress's frustration. Kerrigan was a wise general, a masterful warrior, and even, it seemed, a cunning politician... But the art of creation, of molding creation, was far beyond her. She was no Overmind. She could not even begin to imagine the true potential of the zerg.

He'd said as much to Zeratul.

Kerrigan scowled. "I think I'm going to refer to him as something unpleasant. 'Crow.' That's a morbid-enough name. Perhaps I can add in a word like 'Rot' or 'Filth' on top of it."

"Very suiting," Duran replied, disguising the amusement in his voice. It seemed that his mistress was trying to exert some control over the situation through denial. Her prized and hated pet would be dead within the week.

A pity, at that. It was the first live protoss that the Swarm had ever captured. She would have done the Overmind proud just by ensnaring him. If she hadn't killed off all his cerebrates, they might have been able to make something of unfortunate 'Crow'.

"_Do you hear that, wretch?" _she hissed to the straining warrior, letting her words sink into his skull._ "Your name is Crow."_ The protoss bucked, straining harder in his refusal of this new appelation. Kerrigan grimaced.

Duran smiled further. He relished her mistakes. Her imperfections, her faults. She was, after all, part human. Kerrigan snorted and turned away, heading off to oversee her minions, to ready them for the journey back to Char. Duran regarded the struggling protoss for a moment. 'Crow' was practically mute. His nerve endings were severed and his bond to the Khala had broken. He could no longer project psionics to the world around him, and so, of course, he could not speak. In spite of this, he gave a guttural snarl, a primitive noise that emanated from the depths of his chest. Duran smiled and then turned to follow Kerrigan.

Her pet was too fragile. They would have to leave him behind.

* * *

Valkyrie Frigate, Salvage Base, Aiur

Sasha fidgeted, and had the sense that someone was... calling for her. Danial glanced at her briefly, and rubbed her back.

The valkyrie was quiet for a long moment after Ji'e'toh's revelation. He sat there, eyes closed to slits, his zerg arm exposed for them all to see. From her pilot seat, Valk frowned.

"Vhere did you come from?" she inquired of the protoss.

Ji'e'toh blinked at the question and his eyes turned momentarily purple. _"Well, you see, when a man loves a woman-"_

"So you vere not born zhis vey. You are infested?"

His eyes slowly returned to their normal color as he pondered the question. _"Infested? Perhaps. I was not born this way. This was not done by the Zerg, but by humans. Scientists," _he almost hissed the word.

Valk waved a hand dismissively. "Infested."

"_If you insist. I personally dislike the word. It leads one to assume..." _He trailed off.

Valk eyed him. "Zhat you are affiliated with the Zerg?"

"_And I am not," _he continued quietly, solemnly. _"It's only my arm, I swear to you. My mind has not been touched by their taint. I have a special loathing for the Zerg; I go out of my way to kill them. And I am not under the control of the humans, either."_

Bree quirked a brow. "Well, if that's the case... why show us your arm? Why answer Danial's question truthefully? No offense, but generally, when someone tells me that they're infested, it makes me either want to get out my blowtorch, or run away screaming."

Ji'e'toh gestured to Sasha in explanation.

Bree blinked, pouted, and gave Danial an irritated look. "See what kind of trouble you bring home?"

Danial jumped. "_Me_? You're the one who led him here!"

"Details, details..." Bree said with a wave of her hand.

Ji'e'toh's eyes blushed back to purple as he resumed being drunk. He wavered slightly and giggled. _"What's this? You don't want me? And here, I thought we'd forged such a beautiful alcohol-appreciative friendship..." _He surely would have pouted had he the facial features necessary. As it was, he looked up at her with large, round, puppy-dog eyes. Bree found this expression so bizarre on the face of a protoss, that she cringed.

"Oh noes! Cute... face... overwhelming... Losing... will to resist!"

Danial just stared at her with big eyes, and an expression that clearly stated "WT_F_?" Ji'e'toh broke out laughing, hiccuped, and nearly fell off of his perch. Bree eeped, and rushed to catch him.

Valk watched them curiously. For all her faults, Bree had a surprisingly good intuition. She could read people, and wasn't easily fooled. If Bree wasn't afraid of the Dark Templar, then perhaps he was telling the truth. The pilot stroked her chin thoughtfully.

"Ve'll discuss zhis vhen you are no longer so inebriated," Valk decided at last. "Sleep zhis off. Zhen ve'll talk."

"_Aye-aye capt'n!" _he answered enthusiastically. _"Just please do not kill me in my sleep!"_

"We'll call it a trade, then," Bree said as she laid the protoss down. "You don't kill us in our sleep, we wont kill you in your sleep.

"_Deal."_

Bree smiled and sat down to wait for the protoss to fall asleep. It didn't take long. He was out in no time, sprawled over their bench, sleeping deep. Silence reigned in the cockpit. Bree watched him curiously. "Valk?" she asked.

"Vhat?"the pilot inquired grumpily.

"You aren't going to report him, are you?"

"I'm zhinking about it."

Bree frowned and looked to her companion. "But Valk, you can't! They'd kill him, no questions asked!"

"Of course. Vith good reason."

"But Valk! Look how normal and harmless he is!"

"Normal?" the pilot snapped, turning around in her seat to look at Bree. "You call zhis _normal_? For a _protoss_? He is completely mentally unbalanced and, as such, he is potentially very dangerous."

"He's-"

"He's _infested, _Bree. A _zerg_ just valked into our ship and fell asleep in our cockpit."

Bree frowned, not so certain, but not entirely _un_certain, either. "He said it was just in his arm..."

"You vant me to do nothing? Vhat if he is a danger to everyone here? Vhat if he was sent by Kerrigan? The zerg have been interested in claiming a protoss host since their arrival in this part of the galaxy. So far, zhis has not happened. Vhat if Ji'e'toh is zheir key to assimilating zhe protoss race? Zhis is all above our heads- huge- and you vant me to say nothing to Raynor? To Artanis?"

Bree frowned even more, and looked down at her feet. She sighed, depressed. "Valk, he's trusting us. He was drunk. He probably didn't mean to answer so honestly. You can't tell them, not while he's sleeping it off. It's wrong."

Valk frowned but said nothing, just looking quietly out her ship's window. In terms of morality, Bree was likely right... but there was also her responsibility to the human race to think about. Valk regarded her radio, and considered picking it up. All it would take would be the words, "Infested Protoss," and she'd have the attention of every high ranking official in the salvage base.

Bree blinked. "Hey Danial, why is there blood on your shoes?"

Danial blinked, looked down at his boots, and then turned a shade whiter. "Don't ask," he mumbled. Sasha was calmer now, apparently appeased that the truth had been revealed. She sat in his lap and stared suspiciously at the sleeping Templar. Danial fidgeted and then stroked gently over her nerve endings. She did not react.

Hours passed uneventfully, and soon a storm was raging outside the walls of the salvage base. The water pounded along the dome of the dock, leaked through in some places, drained out in others. The ambiance was loud and yet also comforting, drowning out worries and concerns. Danial found himself nodding off, and soon was napping with Sasha nestled protectively in his arms. Bree sat beside him, watching Ji'e'toh sleep.

All was still and quiet, until Sasha suddenly moved, climbing out of Danial's arms and hopping down to the floor. Blee blinked and looked at the little girl. "Sasha?" she asked uncertainly.

Sasha ignored her, walking up to Ji'e'toh and pressing a hand to the sleeping protoss' temple. The blonde mechanic frowned, worried, reaching over to wake up Danial. "Hey. Hey get up, your kid is doing something."

Danial mumbled in his sleep, something about five more minutes, and rolled over.

Sasha's shadow rippleed and altered, as if disturbed by some ethereal wind.

"_Danial_!" Bree snarled, smacking him. He jumped and looked bewildered up at her, blinking back sleep.

"Wh-huh?" he asked incoherently.

"Sasha," Bree answered definitively.

Danial blinked and turned his head to look at the little girl, just in time to see Ji'e'toh wake.

His eyes were blazing a thick and unpleasant red.

Danial paled. "Sasha-"

A roar tore through the valkyrie, mental and physical, emenating out from the depths of the dark templar's chest. His eyes focused on Bree and he lunged at her, grabbing her neck in one powerful clawed hand and slamming her against the wall of the valkyrie. She yelped and slugged him across the face with surprising reflexes. The blow seemed quite powerful to Danial, but it didn't phase the templar in the slightest. Spikes were raising along his zerg arm, and then its thick claws were diving at her, heading straight for her face.

Danial tried to say something then, but was cut short by what happened. The next moments almost made him sick, they were so difficult to watch.

Bree brought her knee up into the protoss's groin with a speed and force befitting a freight train. There was an audible crunching noise, and the unfortunate templar's eyes opened wide in shock. He stood frozen like that a moment, his caws inches from Bree's face. Then, with a noise that sounded suspiciously like a squeak, he released her and crumbled limply to the ground, legs lifting in an almost fetal position as he curled over and clutched at himself.

Bree snorted and dusted her hands off. "I hope I broke your pelvis," she snapped, and took a grim sort of satisfaction that a bruise was darkening one of his cheeks.

Ji'e'toh didn't respond. Either he was trying to retain some of his dignity, or the pain was simply too great for him to formulate mental words.

Danial swallowed, and then, suddenly alarmed, looked around for Sasha. He had the most horrible feeling that she'd be missing again. But no, she was standing there where he had last seen her, watching the dark templar quietly. The marine quickly scrambled up to her, double checked her shadow, and then gathered her up in his arms with a relieved sigh. She didn't protest, but rather leaned into him and clutched at his under armor. She seemed calmer now, and projected no hostility in Ji'e'toh's direction

When Ji'e'toh still couldn't say anything after a moment or so, Bree's face softened lightly. Sometimes she didn't know her own strength, or so Valk told her. "Hey, look, I didn't want to hit you that hard, but you were acting crazy. What happened, anyway?"

The dark templar eased open one eye. He was still seeing stars, but he could make out the buxom blonde standing above him. His eyes were green _"I- I am.... s-sorry," _he forced out. _"I... I did not mean..."_

Danial looked up from Sasha. He looked to Bree and was about to say something, when Valk cut him off. From where she had watched all this from the cockpit, her eyes narrowed. "You just attacked a member of my crew, protoss," she said slowly, heavily, enunciating every word. "Vhat. Happened."

"_I-I thought... it had stopped... I-I am sorry..."_

Valk frowned. She turned around in her chair and reached for her comm. link.

Bree blinked, and her eyes widened a little. "Valk! Don't!"

"He just attacked you," the pilot retorted.

"I don't think he meant to-"

"Zhat is vhat vorries me."

"_Please, human! I-I will explain... everything... if you will but give me a moment to compose myself..."_

Valk was silent. Too silent. She hadn't picked up the communicator yet, but she hadn't sided with them, either.

Danial cleared his throat, and tried to add his two cents. Unfortunately, this was the moment Valk chose to speak: "I'm getting too old for zhis sh't. Alright. Vhat zhe hell did you attack Bree for?" Danial ducked his head and said nothing.

Ji'e'toh grimaced and tried to roll onto his knees. His loins would not allow this, so he gasped and fell back onto his side, shivering lightly.

"_I... Ah... the zerg blood in my veins permits me the ability to... enter a ... a blood-rage. A berserker's trance, the protoss call it. Protoss are usually capable of an empowering rage but... the zerg blood augments it into something... something new." _He grimaced. _"I- I am not under the control of the zerg. In fact, normally the rage only occurs when I am fighting them, and it gives me the strength to go on but... I am afraid that... I have never been very good at _controlling_ myself while in it. I did not mean to attack you, I-I am sorry. The rage did not recognize you."_

"What provoked it?" Bree asked curiously. "You just woke up, and suddenly you were raging.

Danial perked up. It was his turn to add something to the conversation. He opened his mouth to speak, but Ji'e'toh was already talking.

"_I... I don't know. Occasionally it responds to my dreams. I am so sorry."_

Danial gave up trying to talk and just went back to cradling Sasha. He rubbed gently through her nerve endings, and placed a kiss on her brow. She closed her eyes in response to these affections, and he smiled delightedly. "Sasha, you scare me half to death sometimes." The little girl gave the tiniest smiles. Danial chuckled and sat back down on his bench, cuddling her close to his face, and touching his cheek to hers.

"If your mind is free from the Zerg, vhy are you capable of raging?" the pilot inquired over his head, but Danial was no longer listening.

"_It is an adrenaline gland, I believe, hidden in the arm... Please believe me, I mean your crew no harm..."_

"Valk, I think he's telling the truth," Bree said, despite the fact that she'd nearly been ripped apart by the protoss in question. "If he's not _really_ infested, then he can't be of much use to the zerg. Please, Valk. I wouldn't kill you if you had mad-cow disease or rabies or something!"

"If any of zhose disease actually made a person crazy, I assure you, I vould kill you if _you_ contracted zhem."

"Valk!"

"_Do either of you have any ice?" _Both females blinked and looked down at the protoss. _"I don't mean to be a bother, and I know I certainly deserved this, but it does really hurt..."

* * *

_

Crashed Science Vessel, Aiur

Kay had been living beside the science vessel's hydroponics room, in the ventilation system. Although Artanis was far too tall to enter the vents, Kay transmitted back to him simple images of what the hovel looked like. It seemed she was a bit of a pack rat, and liked to collect little trinkets.

She perused her collection and pointed out things to him for awhile. Although none of these objects held any significance to him, he listened politely to her stuttering tales, and did not interrupt. She was going to be leaving this place forever, and he was certainly capable of guiding the salvage operation from afar.

So she told him about little dolls, and shiny things, toys she'd made, and pretty scraps of fabric she'd found. Kay was a fairly simple thing, he'd found, if not through intelligence, then through upbringing.

Eventually she finished her tales and hopped back out of the vents. Clutched in her hand was a beautifully carved Khaydarin amulets, framed with gold and red precious stones, an indication that it belonged to the Ara tribe. Artanis tilted his head to the side, and then looked curiously to the little hybrid.

"_Where did you get this?"_ he inquired. _"From the woman who named you?"_

Kay smiled and nodded happily._ "The p-people took it from her! She asked me t-to get it back and k-keep it for her! I did! I wont ever break my promise!"_

Artanis nodded, and mused on the irony of the situation.

The Judicatory had been composed of two tribes: The Ara and the Shelak. Kay had been named and nurtured by a protoss of the Ara tribe- and by the look of the amulet, a member of the Judicator Assembly. A thought occurred to him and he knelt down, and carefully took Kay's chin in one of his hands.

Kay blinked in confusion, but allowed Artanis to turn her head from side to side. His brows furrowed over expressive orange eyes, and she felt like he was puzzled, or frowning. His nerve endings clicked together behind him as he considered her. His skin was smoother than that of the other protoss she had seen, and he seemed- at least to her- to be younger. He was also of a more bronze coloration than the others.

She wondered why.

As for Artanis' own examination, he nodded after a moment. Judging by her protossian features, Kay's protoss blood was likely from the Ara tribe. She had probably been made made from the unfortunate protoss woman she had so often visited. Her tale grew more and more ironic by the moment. He stood and then gently took her hand.

"_Come, let us leave. I must oversee my fellows."_

"_Okay!"_ she piped up happily, and squeezed his hand. A step into their journey, however, she frowned and halted. _"Leave...?"_ she asked slowly. _"How long?"_

"_We will not be coming back Kay. It is not safe here. You will be coming with us." H_e paused, but his conscience compelled him to add: _"Is that alright?"_

Kay shifted uncertainly from foot to foot, and then looked back to her little home in the ventilation system. She stared at it for a long time, before nodding and looking trustingly up at Artanis. _"Okay. I'll c-come." _He nodded, and began walking again, and she skipped happily after him.

"_Kay? The woman who named you... do you recall _her_ name?"_

Kay blinked and thought about the question for a moment. Then then shook her head. _"No. I wish I did. I don't remember."_

Artanis just nodded and said nothing. Perhaps not knowing was better.

* * *

Valkyrie Frigate, Salvage Base, Aiur

"Daniel!"

The marine jumped and looked around. He must have zoned out while playing with Sasha. Ji'e'toh had managed to sit up and was icing his hurt parts- an indication that a large amount of time had passed. To boot, everyone in the ship was looking at him expectantly, as if they had just asked him a question three times over and were now awaiting an answer.

Danial swallowed hard. "Umm," he hesitated. "I think Sasha started it."

Valk lifted a brow "Vhat?"

Danial fidgeted. "Well, she went up and touched him, and it felt like she was doing something _strange_, and then he woke up mid-rage. I don't think she likes it when people are hiding things, or something."

Valk and Bree looked at one another. Bree giggled. "Danial, I was _asking_ what you wanted for _dinner_."

Danial blinked, and then looked embarrassed at his feet. Apparently he'd missed the end of the Ji'e'toh discussion. Judging by the fact that the protoss was still alive, Valk had decided to forgive him. "Oh," the marine mumbled.

Bree giggled again and leaned over to kiss him on the top of his head. "Honestly, Danial, I think you went a little crazy down on Aiur."

He tensed and looked up at her, suddenly worried by that idea. Then he sighed sighed, a little depressed by the thought. "I'd like a Pizza," he told her. "Meat-lovers."

"One whole pizza?" Bree asked, lifting a brow

"One whole pizza," Danial affirmed.

"Wuss. I can eat three."

* * *

Wave at Crow everybody!

Next chapter should be up soon. I already have it written, and will update once everyone's seen this one.

_**YARG!!! REVIEW!!!111one!**_ -Bree while writing Silent Hill fanfiction, never realizing that Sasha is watching Silent Hill The Movie in the background.

Cut to Ji'e'toh wandering around with a giant psionic knife, and a large red pyramid helmet on his head. Skrrriiiit goes the knife. Skrriit Thud thud. Skrriit.

Valk "VHAT DID YOU DO, BREE!?"

Danial -Wets himself-

Bree -Runs away screaming-

Hmm...


	12. Stories

I liveee!

Ugh, I've had a horrible time writing lately! Thanks for all your reviews, guys!

* * *

_**Stories**_

* * *

Salvage Base, Valkyrie

_The dark one shall do. His sword arm is strong enough, and his mind is free. We will accept him. He is one of us. He will help us._

_  
"She's special, isn't she?"_ came Ji'e'toh's voice, still flecked with pain. To be truthful, Danial felt for him. That knee to the crotch had to have killed. The marine blinked and lifted his head, looking across the cockpit at the protoss dark templar. He swallowed, and then nodded.

"Yeah. Valk says she's a ghost."

Ji'e'toh tilted his head to the side, unfamiliar with the word save where it applied to Terran Special Ops. _"Ghost?"_

"Yeah... but _normally_ a ghost is the spirit of a dead person. And Sasha's alive and whatnot. So I'm not sure what she is..."

The dark templar blinked, and looked curiously at where Valk sat so silently, as if off in a different world. He wondered what she was thinking about, before looking back to Danial. _"I know little of such things... But when I first saw her, I could tell she was unique. She has been touched by the endless void. Her aura is empty and cold, nothing but darkness."_

Danial grimaced, not exactly liking this description of Sasha, but finding it suiting nonetheless. Still, there had to a brighter side to her, right? Here she was, playing innocently in his lap. Her eyes might have been unnaturally dark, and her skin a ghastly pale, but she was still a little girl. That had to count for something.

He twiddled her little toes, and her face brightened a little. She kicked lightly, almost playfully at his palms. Ji'e'toh watched all this quietly, intrigued by the marine's strange behavior.

"Maybe," Danial said slowly, begrudgingly accepting the dark templar's assent of Sasha's 'aura'. "But she's just a kid."

The dark templar smiled and leaned back in his seat, covering himself up with his cape again._"Your kid?" _he asked innocently.

"Yeah, my...uh-what?" Danial blinked, looking bewildered at the dark templar.

"_Hmm? Oh, nothing." _Ji'e'toh was gingerly crossing his legs, wincing slightly at every movement. This was all very fascinating to Danial, who was bewildered by the tactical maneuvering required for protoss leg-crossing. He blinked at the alien a moment, and then shrugged. Sasha appeared to be tiring, as she curled up against him and blinked heavily, her eyelids low. After a moment, her zerg mouth formed and her fangs closed gently around one of his fingers. The gesture was so mammalian, so childish, that Danial could not hope to misinterpret it as _anything_ other than a variant of thumb-sucking. He smiled brightly, and kissed her temple. If he'd known a single lullaby, he probably would have sung it for her. Her eyes closed fully, and she appeared to drift off to sleep.

Ji'e'toh smiled inwardly, and then closed his eyes to meditate.

Danial shifted slightly, and glanced as Valk. "Um, I sort of missed the tail end of the conversation... Why didn't you report the protoss?" he asked curiously.

Valk was quiet a long moment, and initially he thought he'd not receive an answer.

"Bree likes him," she answered. "Good enough for me."

Danial blinked. "What? Really?"

"Da. Bree iz annoying vhen upset. _You've_ heard her vhine."

Danial figured there had to be more to it than this, but he did not press the issue. Personally, he was sort of glad at the decision. Ji'e'toh seemed decent enough, and killing him was irreversible. He'd fallen out of his rage just because of a good kick to the groin, and that had humanized him in the marine's eyes.

Eh, oh well. He kicked back and waited for that pizza.

* * *

Unknown Location, Unknown Time, Zerg Hive

He vomited up blood. If his mind had been clear, he would have been disgusted by his ability to vomit. The violet liquid oozed down his chin, dripped, fell, mixed with zerg blood and organs below. The chrysalis was closing around him. He had lasted far longer than the week Duran had given him.

It did not matter. It would be over soon.

He fought anyway.

"_Kerrigan has already left the planet." _

His head jerked, flickering white eyes staring blindly at the wall above him. Someone had spoken. Someone other than Kerrigan, other than the seething hives of voices. He wished he could reach out towards that voice- could speak to it, could find out who and what it was, but he was caged within the confines of his dying mind. It was a miracle that he recognized the presence of a voice at all.

"_Do you want to be free, warrior? Do you want to be reunited with the Khala?"_

The Khala...

A mental presence oozed into his skull, as Kerrigan's had so many times before. He roared, tossing violently, unwilling to submit, unwilling to give in to anything, any voice, any damnation, unwilling to-

The other mind wrapped around his like a shield, cutting off the voice of the Swarm. His eyes opened to their fullest extent and he inhaled sharply, overwhelmed by the sudden silence. His body convulsed once, then again.

"_Keep fighting, warrior. Hide me." _

He grasped at the mind psionically. It was within his small domain, where his mental abilities still functioned. Even so, his brain was so ravaged he could scarcely _think_, much less examine his savior. His eyes flickered orange momentarily and he shrieked, tearing at the ropes and folds of flesh around him, fighting with his new talons and his sharp teeth.

"_Good. Keep fighting little blackbird. I will save you."_

The soft chrysalis sealed around him, but still he fought, even as the tissue bound him like a straight jacket. He _fought_. Even as the drugs shut his eyes, forced his body to sleep, he fought. He was not conscious, but neither was he dormant. He would not fall. He would not give in. His white eyes flickered madly beneath closed eyelids, occasionally turning orange.

* * *

Valkyrie Frigate, Salvage Base, Aiur

_We hear a voice calling in the silence of the void. It is crying through time, and only demons listen. They shall burn for their crimes. They will not predict us; we are invisible We are death incarnate._

Sasha's black eyes snapped open and she sat up quickly. The message was old, but still clear. Danial paused mid-pizza and looked down at her, alarm spreading over his face. "Sasha?" he asked quickly, drawing her up close to his face and rubbing her back soothingly. "Sasha? Are you alright?"

She looked at him a long moment.

Then she crawled out of his lap and, under his close supervision, walked into Valk's cockpit and headed for her navigation screen. After a couple moments, the whole group (including Ji'e'toh, who was wincing and still icing his privates) was gathered around the cockpit, looking at an image of a barren planet just a short distance from the Korhal system. An unclaimed planet- a useless planet, mineral poor and with too small an atmosphere for supporting terrestrial life. Sasha pointed to the image, and looked up at Valk, her black eyes vacant.

Valk grimaced. So much for scavenging.

"She vants us to go to zhis planet?"

Danial nodded. "That's what it looks like," he said, touching the navigation screen and zooming away from the planet. Sasha immediately tapped it, zooming back in again. "Yup."

"Hey, it looks like its out of Dominion territory, Valk," Bree observed. "We could get there, it wouldn't be much trouble. Be uncomfortably close to Korhal but... well... living in the same sector as Arcturus Mengsk is _normally _uncomfortable."

Valk snorted. She had considered ignoring the ghost child's requests, but she had seen firsthand what Sasha was capable of. All Valk had to do was think back to that primordial blue ooze in the downed protoss gateway, or the soulless husks tossed about it's hallways. She sighed.

"Fine. _Fine_. Everybody pack up. Ve're going- _After_ ve fetch another crystal shipment to pay for zhis." She looked at Sasha. The ghost didn't seem to have any complaints over the delay.

"_Great! I'll bring my ship!" _

Valk blinked. She lifted her head and eyed Ji'e'toh, who was smiling mentally. "Vhat makes you zhink zhat you are coming?" she asked him.

"_Well you said 'everybody.' I am part of 'everybody,' am I not? Or has even that right been stripped from me?"_

"Semantics."

"_And yet, human, you wish to keep an eye on me. You want to make sure that I am apart from the Swarm. The easiest way for you to do that is if I remain with you."_

Valk scowled. "Vhy do _you_ vant to come vith us?"

"_I am intrigued by this ghost-child, this Sasha."_

Valk scowled even more. "_Fine_. Get your damn ship."

Ji'e'toh smiled more. "_As you wish. Erm... But can I...?"_

"Yes, sure, ice your vitals for a bit longer, be my guest," she grumbled. "Oh, yes, crack team zhis is. A hyperactive amazonian mechanic who gets in fist fight vith alien, a clueless marine who hasn't any idea vhere he is at any given point in time, a malicious alien ghost child, and now a crazy, drunk, infested protoss. Glorious." She threw her hands in the air and started muttering in irritated Russian.

For the first time since the human science facility, Ji'e'toh had the oddest notion that he belonged. He decided to pursue it. "_You have forgotten our valiant, albeit legless leader. And I'm _not_ infested.__"_

She snarled at the absurdity of it all.

* * *

Protoss Ruin, Aiur

Bree whistled merrily to herself as she ferried crystal back and forward. Danial stood nearby with Sasha perched on his shoulder pauldron. She seemed quite taken by the surrounding flora.

Ji'e'toh was also protecting their little salvage site by scouting out the perimeter and watching Danial's back. The first time the dark templar cloaked, Danial had nearly fallen over in surprise. He hadn't known protoss could do _that_.

"_So, what is little Sasha wearing, exactly?" _he inquired.

Danial blinked. "It's a dress? Haven't you ever heard of a dress before?"

"_Protoss wear robes. Are the two similar?"_

"Yeah. A dress is generally supposed to be... um... _pretty_ though. And normally only worn by women."

"_Ah. Well. Hers is lovely?" _he hazarded, wanting to compliment but uncertain as to how to do so.

"Well yeah. A little morbid though. Normally you'd only see a kid dressed like this when she was going to a funeral. But she liked it, so I bought it for her."

"_I see. Humans are such strange creatures. Dresses. Hmm."_

Danial lifted a brow. "Says the guy wearing a loincloth."

"_What? Well I suppose its nothing like what you humans wear. But it does make for a pleasant breeze..."_

Danial's face screwed up in horror. "Too much information!"

The protoss laughed. Bree rolled her eyes where she was salvaging crystal.

"So, Ji'e'toh!" she called. "You told us your arm was screwed up by scientists. What exactly _is _your story?"

The protoss reappeared and pondered the question for awhile. Even as he did so, he seemed to be keeping a better eye on their surroundings than Danial was. The marine blushed slightly and went back to surveying the nearby trees.

"_I don't know. I have few memories of the time before my imprisonment," _the protoss murmured sadly. "_I remember very clearly waking up in a human lab, wired to their machines. How or why I ended up in their clutches, I do not know. I am eternally ashamed for it. My people do not allow themselves to be captured." _He walked over to examine several rustling bushes, only to find a small animal responsible for the disturbance.

"How long ago was that?"

"_A year ago"_

"That's all?" she asked, surprised. "That's all you remember?"

"_I remember bits and pieces of the past- enough to know I was normal once. I was a dark templar under the Prelate's, Zeratul's, command. I remember killing cerebrates, and I remember being on Aiur again.. I... I remember Aiur falling, and I remember the great protoss hero, Tassadar. Then: nothing."_

Danial looked at him sympathetically "That sucks."

Bree grunted. "Wiping the minds of people... human scientists seem to like doing that for some reason. You're lucky you can remember _anything_."

Ji'e'toh nodded. _"I am protoss, after all. We are a tad hardier than the average human. But thank you for your sympathy. And what of you two? What are your 'stories'?"_

Bree grinned, and it seemed to Danial (who had gotten distracted from his duty again) that she knew something of some significance. "Well, you're a protoss," she said slowly, with a big wink. "Can't you just read my mind?"

"_I like conversation, to be honest... But... I'd been meaning to ask you about that. Why _can't_ I read your mind? Why _can't_ I sense your presence?"_

Bree giggled. "Because! I'm brain dead."

Ji'e'toh shot her a puzzled look. At least, Danial assumed it was puzzled... Protoss facial features were a little hard to read. As for himself, the marine grinned "Aw come on, Bree, you're a little empty headed, but you're not all that bad!"

The mechanic laughed again, hauling off some more crystal "No, really, really!" she said. "I've been tested to see if I'm psionic. Once there was this ghost who couldn't read my mind, so they tried to induct me into the ghost program and everything! But guess what? When they tested me, I received a Psionic Index of zero!"

Danial blinked "Zero? What does that mean?"

"It means," said Valk's thick voice, from the comfort of her pilot's seat, "zhat she has no psionic activity. None. All living zhings should have at least a vone or two. Great, powerful humans may have all zhe vay up to a ten. But zero? Bree might as vell have been a rock for all zhe psionic potential she evidences. Nothing goes in, and nothing comes out. It is an unexplained phenomenon."

Ji'e'toh tilted his head to the side, pondering over this information. _"So, you were tested, and received, according to this 'index', a score of zero. What happened then?"_

Bree giggled. "Then the local ghost program division tried to dissect my brain so they could study it and make uber ghost-resistant warriors, BWAHAHAHAHA! I think they were trying to claim all the credit for my discovery, or they would have sent me to Tarsonis."

Danial blinked. "What stopped them? From dissecting your brain and creating the uber ghost-resistant warriors, that is."

"Huh? Oh." Bree set the final batch of crystal down. "Well, I lived on Mar Sara. You know, the planet that got infested by zerg, and then nice old mister Tassadar blew it up? _That_ one. I was left behind and got out of there with The Korhal Rebellion- through Raynor."

The dark templar blinked. _" 'Mister' Tassadar?"_

"Yup! I gave him a big-ole hug when I found out."

Ji'e'toh tried to imagine Bree giving the protoss messiah a hug. Strangely, it wasn't that hard to visualize. Of course, Tassadar hadn't been so highly thought of at the time, but still. _"How did you meet him?"_

"Defected from Korhal. I stuck with Jimmy-Boy, so I got to meet all kinds of fun protoss! It was like going to a celebrity convention! Well, before any of the people were celebrities yet..."

Ji'e'toh nodded, digesting this knowledge. After a moment, he looked at Danial. _"May I inquire as to your story?" _he asked politely.

Bree was still wondering to herself in the background: "Maybe it was more like going to high school with a celebrity... Hmm"

Danial lifted a brown and then shrugged. "Eh, I don't have much of a story," the marine answered. Now that he didn't have to pay attention to anyone _else_, he could keep an eye on the foliage again. "I was with the UED- I'm from Earth. My parents were boring normal people. I joined the military to make some money. Then they sent us _out here_, and things got a little crazy. I ended up marooned on this miserable planet."

Ji'e'toh blinked. _"Why did this 'UED' come here?"_

"It had to do with their Overmind project. After the old Overmind died, some zerg got together and decided to make a new one. At least, that's the dumbed down version we got. Anyhow, we were part of that... _somehow_."

"_Pardon, part of what? What was this 'Overmind project' you speak of?"_

"Well, the UED tried to enslave the new Overmind, so it could control the zerg. And I think it was working, up until Kerrigan and some other factions stormed in to kill it. Can't really blame them. That's just trading a zerg-controlled Overmind for a human-controlled Overmind, and frankly the second one scares me _more_."

Ji'e'toh looked horrified by this revelation, but was thankful that the second Overmind had already been defeated. _"Was this second Overmind on Aiur as well, then?"_

"No, That's the funny part. I don't really know what we were doing here, or how we were part of the plan. As far as I can tell, the new Overmind was on Char, and they landed us on Aiur. I used to think we came here because there was a lot of wild zerg... so we figured the Overmind would be able to control the zerg here first." The marine shifted slightly. "But Valk, and Bree, and I found... We found Sasha here, in a UED science vessel, filled with other half-formed hybrids. I think a lot of crazy shit was going on in the background, stuff we marines weren't told about."

The little girl in question was sitting quietly in the arm of Danial's power suit. She was watching the salvage operation with her dark eyes, silent and passive.

"_I see," _the protoss murmured. He cloaked and made another round of the area, before coming back to Danial with a new question. _"Have you told anyone about your discovery of these hybrids? About Sasha?"_

Danial blinked and then shook his head. "No. I don't think we can. They'd take Sasha away, and they'd probably try and kill her. I was stupid just for carrying her around the Salvage Base. And the science vessel where we found here exploded. If we don't show them Sasha, then we have no proof."

The dark templar nodded sadly. _"Just as I cannot warn them about what happened to myself. I understand. Occasionally I feel that I am choosing the wrong path, however. These events seem dire. Someone should be looking in to them. Is it right for me to withhold such vital information from my people? My life might be sacrificed to save theirs."_

Danial shifted. After a long moment, he spoke again. "It's not them killing Sasha I'm worried about. It's what Sasha will do to them if they try."

Ji'e'toh blinked and looked at him curiously.

"The real story about how we found Sasha is filled with supernatural crap," The marine began, taking in a slow breath. "Walls were bleeding, spirits were dancing around laughing, blood ghosts were lying around, loads of impossible shit was going on..."

He told the whole story, from start to finish. Ji'e'toh listened with a perplexed expression. Danial found it difficult to tell whether he believed the tale or not. He need not have worried; the protoss was watching these supernatural events play out again in the forefront of Danial's mind, unwinding like a long and gory horror movie. Try as he might, the protoss could think up no logical explanation for many of the events the marine had witnessed.

Ji'e'toh had guessed that Sasha was special. It seemed this was the understatement of his life.

* * *

YARRRGGG!!!

REVIEW!


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